For this short post, we’re gonna do an exercise.

I’d like you to go through this list of NFL head coaching vacancies and rank them in order of most desirable to least desirable:

  • Chargers
  • Eagles
  • Falcons
  • Lions
  • Jaguars
  • Jets
  • Texans

Los Angeles and Jacksonville are attractive jobs, and I’d have them #1 and #2. Any coach would jump at the chance to work with Justin Herbert or Trevor Lawrence. The New York Jets have a high draft pick and will turn the corner, and the Lions and Falcons will soon be moving on from their veteran quarterbacks and starting over under circumstances that should be relatively favorable for a new coach. Less pressure in those markets than they would get here in Philadelphia.

The Eagles job is probably 6th out of seven. Houston is a total mess, but the Eagles have a GM who is the owner’s golden boy and a broken franchise quarterback who has severely regressed over the years. Who is signing up for that job? Not Brian Daboll. Not Eric Bieniemy.

This is not an appealing gig. QB and GM situations aside, the roster is on the older side and not that good. The salary cap situation is terrible. You have to deal with intense fan and media pressure. You don’t have say over player-personnel decisions.

And if you recall, the situation wasn’t dissimilar when Doug, who was not first choice, came in. Nobody was thrilled with that job, nor was the Eagles’ gig considered to be truly desirable at the time. They packaged picks to go up and get a franchise QB, then shipped out Sam Bradford, and struck gold from there, but this situation is not the same. It’s not even close to being the same.

Thanks for participating in the exercise. I’ll leave you with a rhetorical question –

Would you take this Eagles job?