Eagles to hire Pederson as head coach

Lurie fired Chip Kelly after three years and wants a new coach who can make an emotional attachment with the players – a skill Kelly never mastered in Philadelphia.

It might not have been the night that the Chiefs had envisioned but for the Eagles, it means that they are now free to seal the deal and officially hire Doug Pederson as their new Head Coach. “The things I’ve learned from Coach Reid … if it’s in my future to become a head coach, then there’s a lot of great examples of him leading a team and an organization that I can use in my future as well”. Kelly will get a chance to show Eagles fans and more importantly, owner Jeffrey Lurie, that they were wrong to fire him before the end of the season. Pederson can connect with numerous Chiefs players because he was in the same position as them not that long ago. Will Doug Pederson be a good head coach for the Eagles?

Kelly was sacked after the 15th game of this season when the Eagles were 6-9.

It also seemed to point to Shurmur, the Philly offensive coordinator the past two seasons and one of the candidates for the head coaching gig, as the likely victor. With Pederson, on the other hand, the expectations of the Eagles faithful can hardly get much lower.

Pederson met with the team in Kansas City. Pederson obviously will finish the season with the Chiefs because he has played a part in their post-season run thus far.

However, Pederson likely won’t have to fill out an entire staff. It is believed he will retain running backs coach Duce Staley, special teams coordinator Dave Fipp, offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and defensive backs coach Cory Undlin. It will be interesting to see what Pederson can do with Sam Bradford or whoever else is the Eagle’s quarterback will be next season, as Pederson has a knack for communicating and developing quarterbacks. Pederson is also in charge of the Chiefs’ red zone offense.

The Eagles have ended their coaching search. Would the new head honcho be current offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur? If the Eagles have tagged Pederson as their next coach, they will have to wait until the Chiefs are eliminated from the postseason to hire him.

As I said, I can’t judge whether Pederson will be the next Dick Vermeil or the next Rich Kotite. But after going 2-7, he was replaced by the team’s first-round pick from that year, Donovan McNabb.

Also on Thursday, media reports said that Dirk Koetter had been promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent a year with the Browns before returning to Green Bay to serve as Brett Favre’s backup for four years, retiring after the 2004 season.