At Monday’s press conference, Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie said he expected Duce Staley to be a candidate for the head coaching job, and sure enough, Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce is getting an interview today:

Duce has been with the Birds since 2011, when he began as a special teams quality control coach. He was promoted to running backs coach by Chip Kelly in 2013 and then was given the additional title of assistant head coach in 2018.

A couple of players have come out in support of Duce getting the gig, such as Malcolm Jenkins and Torrey Smith. He’s certainly qualified, because in addition to his 10-year playing career he now has 10 years of coaching under his belt and is 45 years old. If guys like Joe Brady and Arthur Smith are being considered for head coaching gigs, then Duce’s resume is plenty robust.

The elephant in the room is something we can’t talk about with any kind of authority, and that’s the topic of whether or not he’s getting a courtesy interview in order to meet Rooney Rule requirements. As you know, the NFL mandates that teams with a vacant head coach position must interview minority candidates as part of the effort to infuse some diversity into the league’s coaching ranks. When Duce interviewed for the gig in 2016, there was belief that he wasn’t a bona fide candidate, but instead given an interview for the purposes described above.

I don’t know if that’s the case this time around, but the players seem to like him and respect him. He is the assistant head coach. The resume is quality. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t be considered for the gig unless the Eagles are looking specifically for somebody who worked as an offensive or defensive coordinator, or has prior HC experience.