December 21, 2017
According to Michael Lombardi (of 'Doug Pederson is the least qualified head coach in the history of the Universe' fame), two Philadelphia Eagles assistants are among a list of a dozen head coaching candidates recommended by the NFL to all 32 teams. They are defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and quarterback coach John DeFilippo.
as the coaching positions start to open the NFL sends out their list of candidates based their own research--they have an A and B list.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) December 20, 2017
Names on the list included McDaniels, Wilks, Cooter, Vrabel, Nagy, Toub, Shurmur, Edwards, Patricia, Campbell, DeFillipo Edwards and Schwartz.
— Michael Lombardi (@mlombardiNFL) December 20, 2017
Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk translated what Lombardi was trying to say above.
The NFL’s Career Development Advisory Panel has distributed its annual list of recommended candidates for head-coaching vacancies, and this year’s list features a dozen current assistants.
The Career Development Advisory Panel consists of former NFL GMs and coaches who keep an eye on the league and help teams identify strong candidates for career advancement.
Lombardi listed the candidates in his tweets, which we'll do once again here (with an assist from PFT), so you can actually read it:
As we noted earlier this month, the Eagles are highly likely to have one or more of their assistants poached, with DeFilippo being the most likely candidate.
The Eagles' objective during the 2016 offseason was clear. They wanted to draft a quarterback and surround him with a quarterback-focused coaching staff. That approach has paid off big-time two straight years both for the Eagles and (to a similar degree) the Los Angeles Rams. Other teams around the league are sure to copy it.
DeFilippo's work with Carson Wentz and the Raiders' David Carr has been widely recognized. Working against the Eagles' chances of retaining him are three factors:
The combination of factors No. 2 and No. 3 are going to leave quarterback gurus with experience in demand. DeFilippo is as good as gone, and Frank Reich could find himself on some teams' radars this offseason as well.
Schwartz will get looks too, even with the Eagles defense faltering a bit over the last three weeks. If you go back to 2015, the most successful hire that offseason was defensive-minded coach Dan Quinn, who left Seattle to become the Atlanta Falcons' head guy. In the Falcons' case, a defensive-minded coach made sense, since the Falcons' defense was the weak link, and they already had an established franchise quarterback in place in Matt Ryan.
A potential coaching vacancy similar to Atlanta's that offseason that may make sense for Schwartz is Indianapolis, depending on what they think of Andrew Luck's health. Beyond the Colts, it's tough to find many mirroring situations. If you squint hard enough, maybe the Cincinnati Bengals?
The Eagles' extraordinarily successful 2017 season was fueled in part by the staff the Eagles assembled during the 2016 offseason. They may need to replace some of their star assistants soon.
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