Doug Pederson: “My Three Coordinators Will Be Back”

Embed from Getty Images

By Paul Bowman, Sports Talk Philly Editor

The Eagles season was a bit of a roller coaster in 2018. There was uproar about moving on from defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz toward the beginning of the season and there were some calling for offensive coordinator Mike Groh to be fired toward the middle of the season.

Neither will happen as coach Doug Pederson told the media on Tuesday, “Yeah, my three coordinators will be back.”

The aforementioned Schwartz and Groh were both hired by Doug Pederson while special teams coordinator Dave Fipp is a holdover from Chip Kelly’s tenure.

Fipp took over as special team coordinator in 2013, mere days after the hiring of Chip Kelly as the Eagles head coach. He coached the special teams and took the unit to the top of the league and having them regularly ranked among the top five special teams units in the league. Doug Pederson decided to keep him in his staff following his hire as head coach. The special teams was down last season, but he will be back with two very young players at kicker and punter.

Schwartz was a widely praised hire following Doug Pederson’s hire as head coach. Pederson brought Schwartz in as the defensive coordinator and, as Pederson is an offensive minded head coach, handed him the reigns to the defense. Schwartz turned a unit that was one of the worst in the league prior to his hire to arguably the best in the league in 2017. He received interviews for head coaching positions following the 2017 season.

Groh was the last to be hired of the three. He joined the Eagles prior to the 2017 season as the wide receivers’ coach. Following the departure of both offensive coordinator Frank Reich and quarterbacks’ coach John DeFilippo, Groh became the internal hire for offensive coordinator, making 2018 his first season in the position. His return to the position means a reunion with DeFilippo is extremely unlikely.

Continuity, especially among the higher spots in the coaching staff is key to a team’s success. The Eagles offense did struggle quite a bit earlier in the season, which could be due to the change from Reich and Flip to the styles and schemes of Groh with quite a few key players not having a full offseason to prepare due to injuries (most notably Carson Wentz and Alshon Jeffery). The fact that the Eagles have the chance to keep all three is good news for the Birds.