Eagles will hire Chiefs coordinator Doug Pederson as their next coach

Kansas City plays at New England on Saturday.

The spot as Philadelphia’s top…I don’t know…eagle will be the 47-year-old Pederson’s first head coaching job above high school, and was reportedly reached after ex-Giants coach Tom Coughlin removed his name from consideration. Since the Miami Dolphins snatched up Adam Gase before the Eagles could, it was looking pretty evident that Pederson would be the guy. It seems a little early for him because he just became a coordinator three years ago and this has mostly been Reid’s offense but it’s obvious that Reid was coaching him up to get to this point.

He spent the last four years of his playing career in Green Bay as a mentor to Brett Favre.

The Eagles would not confirm the decision to hire Pederson but a team spokesman said the Eagles have concluded their search for a head coach and no further interviews are scheduled. While there are plenty of good players on the Eagles’ roster in my opinion, Kelly set them a few years back in trading LeSean McCoy, cutting DeSean Jackson, and letting Jeremy Maclin sign with the Chiefs in his short time with them. Columnists and insiders are dubbing Pederson’s hire a failure before he’s even been introduced as the new coach.

Coughlin would have become the first to serve as head coach of the two NFC East rivals.

Pederson isn’t the only member of the Chiefs garnering interest elsewhere. “We worked together, I worked for him in Philadelphia, so I understand that market and that climate and that structure there”.

Pederson will take over for Chip Kelly, who was sacked December 29.

Pederson coached the Eagles from 2009-12, completing the tour as quarterbacks coach. Then Andy said that Pederson was calling some plays this season. On an interesting note for the people that question this hiring, Pederson took over the Chiefs’ playcalling after they started 1-5 and have won since winning their last ten regular season games and last week in the Wild card round against the Houston Texans.

“I’d rather have somebody that way, who is not going to turn the ball over”, Pederson told The MMQB’s Jenny Vrentas, “who is going to use his legs when he needs to run, who uses his brain all the time to get us out of bad situations”.

Pederson went 2-7 in nine starts in 1999 and was 3-14 in 17 career starts.

“I know he interviewed for the job and you hear all the reports and this and that, obviously all unofficial”, Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said.