When Jeff Becomes Ed
Good report today from Tim McManus, who sheds some light on the somewhat obvious notion that Jeffrey Lurie has taken a more hands-on role since firing Chip Kelly:
The most recent example of Lurie’s increased level of involvement occurred days after the regular season ended. The New York Jets requested permission to interview Eagles quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo for their vacant offensive coordinator position. According to a league source, Lurie stepped in and denied the Jets permission, preventing Pederson from granting the request as his mentor, former Eagles coach Andy Reid, typically had done.
Last offseason, sources say, the decision to re-sign quarterback Sam Bradfordwas driven by Lurie, who has been outspoken about the need to invest heavily in the position.
In December, Pederson revealed another way in which Lurie is more involved. Asked whether Lurie and Howie Roseman, the Eagles’ executive vice president of football operations, had expressed the standard by which they were evaluating his performance, Pederson responded by telling reporters he met weekly with Lurie and Roseman, “and we discuss a lot of things and go over a lot of things, and every week it’s very positive.” Lurie traditionally has huddled with his head coaches immediately after games for quick macro discussions – and continues to do so with Pederson — but holding an in-depth weekly meeting is a new practice.
Gulp. Lurie catches a lot of shit in Philly because he’s [different] [refined] [super liberal] [rich] [aloof] [greedy]– insert whichever you choose. But I’ve never understood the criticism that he doesn’t want to win. The Eagles are many things, but cheap isn’t one of them. And they’re always competitive, unlike the Dallas Cowboys, who have won only two playoff games in 20 years– no one would tell you that Jerry Jones is cheap or doesn’t want to win. But Jones is also a cautionary tale for what happens when an owner becomes too involved. They become both the most powerful person in the room and the least experienced in the particular subject matter (like Donald Trump, or just about all of his cabinet picks). That creates a situation where the least informed voice often has or influences the final decision.
Sound familiar?
Lurie pushing for the Eagles to re-sign Sam Bradford – who was traded away once a better option presented itself – sounds a lot like Ed Snider pushing for Ilya Bryzgalov. And indeed, both players had portions of their salaries paid by the Eagles and Flyers, respectively, after they left. It’s like a market correction for meddling owners.
I’m not gonna sit here and bash Lurie. He was obviously hurt by what Chip did to his team, both on and off the field, and I’m sure his intentions are good. He obviously wants to win. But if the turmoil in the Eagles’ front office over the past 6-7 years is any indication, Lurie is not a particularly strong leader, and the thought of him being involved in personnel decisions reminds me of David Montgomery wanting to keep Jimmy Rollins around because he was his favorite player… but now we’re getting into other comparisons and I think we can just shut it down here.