Good news for all the people who think that Frank Reich and John DeFilippo were the reason the Eagles won the Super Bowl.

One player who spent a lot of time around Reich, and new Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni, is retired running back Danny Woodhead, who was a San Diego Charger during Reich’s offensive coordinator days, when Sirianni was coaching the quarterbacks and receivers after starting as the offensive quality control guy.

Woodhead went on 94 WIP Thursday evening with Ike Reese and Jonny Marks, and said this about the new Birds head coach:

“It’s hard for me to say how he’s going to lead a group of men. Because the position he was in, he never did that. He led rooms and did a phenomenal job with that. But I’m moreso thinking his knowledge of football, and I got along with him great. I think he can do it and I think he can lead men. But as far as his knowledge of football – I’ve been fortunate to be around some great offensive coaches. Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien – and I know people are (talking about) what Bill did at Houston, but he was an unbelievable offensive coach – Ken Whisenhunt, Frank Reich. The thing about Nick is he’s obviously been under Frank, he’s been under (Whisenhunt), he’s been under a lot of great coaches. The dude works tirelessly and he does an unbelievable job explaining what he wants or what he needs.” 

Woodhead suffered a broken leg in 2014 and only played three games, but in 2013 and 2015 he logged more than 1,000 scrimmage yards and scored six touchdowns in each of those seasons, functioning as a dual-purpose running back and pass catcher out of the backfield. It wasn’t dissimilar from the scat back role he played in New England, and you’ve seen the Colts have a lot of success in recent years with Nyheim Hines functioning in a similar role.

Woodhead:

“Just schematically, he is going to be very similar to a Frank Reich. Someone asked, ‘why should you guys be excited?’ I personally think Doug Pederson was a great coach. Did he get moved out? Yeah, he did. But let’s be honest; the year that Carson Wentz had his last really good year, the offensive coordinator, and he didn’t call plays, but it was Frank Reich. (Sirianni) has worked with Frank for however long so he is more of a younger Frank Reich. Maybe different personalities, but as far as knowing the game, I think there are a lot of similarities and with working with the quarterbacks.”

…

I got along with him great, but is he gonna coach guys hard? Of course he is. His first job in the NFL was Kansas City, the (GM Scott Pioli) years, that was under (head coach) Todd Haley, and they would get after guys. But he’s also been with a lot of other coaches. He’s not gonna be afraid to call people out, but he’s also gonna communicate why he’s calling them out. I think he’ll do a great job with that.

Here’s the full interview if you’d like to listen to it.