The Philadelphia Eagles have found themselves in search of a new head coach after Doug Pederson was surprisingly fired, and it sounds like many within the organization were not prepared for the task at hand.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network said Tuesday that the Eagles are “scrambling” to find a new head coach. The belief is that team owner Jeffrey Lurie is the only one who actually wanted to move on from Pederson.
“They are scrambling right now. They didn’t expect to be having a coaching search,” Garafolo told 97.5 The Fantatic. “The owner who dictated the firing of (former offensive coordinator) Mike Groh last year, didn’t like who Doug wanted this year. My read on the situation is that Lurie was the only one who wanted him fired.”
Garafolo mentioned several coaches who could be candidates to replace Pederson, but he noted that the Eagles could be “a little late to the party” on some of them. Potential candidates include Todd Bowles, Eric Bieniemy and Mike Kafka.
It’s also possible that the Philly job could be viewed as less desirable than some others because Pederson was ousted three years after winning a Super Bowl.
“Nationally people are going to look at it like the team ran a Super Bowl winning head coach out of town,” Garafolo said.
Reports have indicated Pederson’s job was safe heading into Week 17. The coach then benched Jalen Hurts in favor of Nate Sudfeld, which was a move that left many Eagles players furious. One veteran player publicly defended Pederson, but it’s possible the situation created a locker room divide.
A lot goes into a head coaching search, and Lurie appears to have left his front office staff in a very difficult spot.
