Since people won’t stop sending this to me, I’ve got to mention it. Here’s the deal: Yesterday, Smitty over at Barstool, who is going to win a page views award for this, posted text and email exchanges with tipsters, one of them with a guy he trusts in NFL circles, who claim that Doug Pederson was banging his 20-something assistant in Kansas City and Andy Reid wouldn’t have it anymore so he sold the Eagles a bill of goods on Pederson, and Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman and Co. didn’t do their due diligence and figure this out before hiring Pederson. It all supposedly came to a head at the combine when Roseman overheard the rumor – since it’s apparently well-known in NFL circles – and had it out with Reid [update: Andy Reid didn’t attend the combine], who, along with Pederson, was supposedly lying to the media about Pederson calling plays just so they could get him a soft landing as an NFL head coach. Derp.

I know nothing or no one. But I’ve been blogging long enough to have a pretty stellar BS meter. This blows it through the roof. Reid, ever grateful to Mr. Lurie, concocted a wild story about Pederson’s coaching abilities to find his assistant a soft landing because he could no long have that cocksmith around the office? Hmm.

A version of this story – like, this exact version – appeared on a site called Waiver Warrior (here comes their big day) on Tuesday night. Waiver Warrior, which at one point spelled Lurie’s name as “Laurie,” has exactly 8 Twitter followers, and they seem genuinely thrilled that their story is gaining steam:

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I talked to Smitty, whose story – in which he several times wrote was a “rumor” and “conspiracy” – got just, oh, a few more eyeballs than the original on Waiver Warrior. He’s aware of that version, but said he was starting to hear about it from people he trusts before that story came out. In his post, it seems it was first brought to his attention by a tipster through email.

Few things:

  1. I don’t blame Smitty for posting it. It’s what Barstool does (they also posted the ridiculous Jay Wright-college student rumor a few years ago, and that was very untrue). But I don’t know, I’ve got a higher threshold for running with this stuff, especially when the guy is married with kids.
  2. These rumors are rarely true. Jayson Werth and Chase Utley’s wife? Nope. Lindros and Brind’Amour’s wife? Nope. Jay Wright and soccer player? Nope. Doug Pederson and an elaborate cover up by a guy who owes basically his entire existence to the Eagles? I doubt it.
  3. I’d honestly love nothing more than for it to be true. It would provide YEARS of blogging material and sports talk radio therapy for the masses. It would also probably get Pederson fired. But it’s not passing the sniff test even a little bit.