The Linc – No head coaching job for Doug Pederson?

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 1/28/22.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

What happened to Doug Pederson’s head coaching hopes? – NBCSP
It does seem like teams are leaning toward current hot coordinators as opposed to former head coaches in their searches. For instance, the Broncos interviewed 10 candidates before hiring Hackett, and only one was a former head coach, Dan Quinn. The Texans have interviewed seven candidates and Brian Flores was the only former head coach. Quinn was also the only former head coach the Dolphins met with. Of the 68 known interviews for the various openings, only 23 have gone to former NFL head coaches: Quinn with five teams, Todd Bowles with four, Leslie Frazier and Flores with three each, Dennis Allen, Caldwell and Pederson with two and Vance Joseph and Bill O’Brien one apiece. There are still seven openings and teams are still conducting interviews. The Saints job just opened up on Wednesday. So there’s still hope for Pederson. But two weeks without an interview and no second interviews is not an encouraging sign for Pederson’s hopes to land another head coaching job this winter.

Eagles All-22 Film Review: Jalen Hurts deep dive – BGN
Unless you think Jalen Hurts has top 5-8 potential (personally, I do not at this point) then the Eagles should be looking at other quarterbacks to try and find an elite option. Pretty much every single team who doesn’t have an elite quarterback should be looking to improve. This doesn’t mean you cannot win without an elite quarterback but you have to accept that the best teams usually have the best quarterbacks. Steven Ruiz wrote a great piece about this topic recently, but it is clear that the elite quarterbacks in the league right now are just playing the position at a completely different level than a ‘good’ quarterback. Does anyone think an Eagles offense led by Hurts can compete with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen in a playoff game? I struggle to see it, especially after watching the high level performances at the quarterback position this weekend. The talent on show was extraordinary.

From the Bleachers #100 – Saying Goodbye to Brandon Brooks – BGN Radio
On the latest episode of From the Bleachers, Shamus Clancy details what Brandon Brooks means to him as both a player and a person while also discussing how the Eagles’ Super Bowl run changed his life.

One free agent each team can’t afford to lose – PFF
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES. CB STEVEN NELSON. 2021 Player Grade/Rank: 61.5 (76th of 134). 2021 Team Position Grade/Rank: 75.9 (3rd of 32). Nelson was a strong late-offseason addition by the Eagles following his release from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal and earned his sixth straight season grade above 60.0. Nelson missed just two tackles all season and earned a stellar 86.0 tackling grade as a result. The Eagles have added a lot of young talent at cornerback and could feel comfortable letting them step up next season opposite top cornerback Darius Slay, but Nelson is still a solid veteran presence who can be acquired for the right price.

Could Eagles pair DeVonta Smith with a star receiver? A look at their to-do list – ESPN
The defensive line was supposed to be Philadelphia’s biggest strength this season. Then defensive end Brandon Graham went down with a ruptured Achilles in Week 2. Couple that with underwhelming performances from fellow defensive line starters Fletcher Cox and Derek Barnett and soft coverage on the back end, and you have a unit that finished second-to-last in sacks (29). Graham turns 34 in April. Barnett is a free agent. Cox’s level of play has fallen off in recent seasons, and he was the subject of trade talks prior to the deadline after publicly voicing his displeasure over how he was being utilized in defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s system on multiple occasions. They need reinforcements, particularly on the outside. The top-ranked edge rushers among the projected free agents, per ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, are Von Miller (Rams), Harold Landry III (Titans), Randy Gregory (Cowboys), Chandler Jones (Cardinals), Jadeveon Clowney (Browns) and Haason Reddick (Panthers). Philadelphia holds picks 15, 16 and 19 in the first round of the draft. Mel Kiper has the Eagles selecting Penn State defensive end Arnold Ebiketie 16th overall in his latest mock draft.

Mailbag: Could the Packers Tag Davante Adams and Trade Him for a First-Round Pick? – SI
J.R., a lot of people are questioning Gannon’s readiness to be a head coach. It’s fair to ask questions. He’s 39. He’s been a coordinator for only a year. However, I think it’s a mistake to take the Eagles’ defensive results in isolation as a reason not to hire the guy—he’s been widely regarded as a top defensive assistant for years and stayed in Indianapolis past when he first could’ve been a coordinator for a variety of reasons. Teams that are interviewing him now see it. One team he interviewed with told me he was “electric” in their session—with smarts, command and energy that lit up the room. That’s not a surprise since most who know him felt like once he started interviewing for jobs, it’d only be a matter of time before he landed one. Why does Houston make sense? Simply put, the Texans have a good idea of what they’d be getting. We told the story in the MMQB column this week, and I’ll give you the abridged version here. Gannon worked with Josh McDaniels in St. Louis for a year in 2011 (Gannon was a pro scout, McDaniels the team’s OC), and the two struck up a friendship. They’ve grown tighter since. In the years that followed, they habitually met at the combine and talked football—and Gannon learned a ton as he rose through the ranks of defensive coaches.

How the 49ers Defense Went From Weak Link to One of the Scariest Units in the NFL = The Ringer
Two months ago, San Francisco’s defense was struggling to find its footing. Now, it’s the strength of a team that’s one win away from a Super Bowl berth. How did DeMeco Ryans turn things around? And just how big of a role has Fred Warner played in that?

Andy Reid going for his 20th postseason win on Sunday – PFT
Chiefs coach Andy Reid is rising up the ranks of the most accomplished coaches in NFL history. If the Chiefs beat the Bengals in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, Reid will earn his 20th postseason win. That would tie him with former Cowboys coach Tom Landry for the second-most postseason wins by a coach in NFL history.

Report: Dallas Cowboys have assured Mike McCarthy he will remain the team’s head coach in 2022 – Blogging The Boys
This week, even as they are void of any sort of official duties, the Dallas Cowboys universe has been filled with all sorts of storylines. Interestingly enough, in true Dallas Cowboys way, a lot of the stories they are involved in currently have nothing to do with them. While they did receive some positive news on Thursday in that defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is set to return to the club for the 2022 season, it was New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton walking away from his organization that sent things into a bit of a tailspin. Payton has always been the one that got away for the Cowboys so the idea of him being available (in a loose sense, given that Dallas would have to provide New Orleans compensation in order to land him) dangled quite the golden carrot. Given that Jerry Jones had declined to publicly guarantee that Mike McCarthy will be returning to Dallas in 2022, there has been an obvious bit of speculation, but all of that is now seemingly in the rearview mirror.

Brian Daboll? Brian Flores? Leslie Frazier? Giants coaching search heating up – Big Blue View
Flores gets his chance on Thursday with an in-person interview. He has some work to do to convince the Giants that he is the right man for the job. The biggest question — can he and Schoen work together? They have never worked together, and this is the first time they have met in-person. Can he be “in lockstep” with a general manager he doesn’t have a previous relationship with? Maybe, but he is going to have to convince Schoen and Giants ownership of that. He is also going to have to convince the Giants that he can work within their traditional top-down power structure. Mara made it clear on Wednesday that whoever is named head coach will report to the general manager. The GM will not be subservient to the wishes of the coach. “That is fair to say,” Mara admitted. “That’s the structure that I believe in with the head coach reporting to the general manager.”

The Aaron Rodgers to the Broncos rumors are starting to feel more real – SB Nation
In the realm of NFL rumors this still feels a little far off. It’s hard to measure the motivations of everyone in play to see how it makes sense enough to pull the trigger, and a lot of that has to do with the state of the AFC West. We don’t even know if Rodgers wants to play in 2023 and beyond, adding to the complications of all this. So, for now, I think we have a series of circumstances which could lead to a blockbuster trade, but it doesn’t feel quite right yet. Let’s put the chance of this around 20 percent, because that feels right — but goodness is it going to be a fun and wild process to watch.

The Look Ahead #74: Coaching Carousel News + Conference Championship Preview – The SB Nation NFL Show
Rob “Stats” Guerrera and RJ Ochoa react to breaking NFL coaching news, the retirement of Big Ben, and preview the conference title games. Ben Roethlisberger officially walks away (2:54). The Broncos have a new head coach…is Aaron Rodgers next? (7:35). How the Bengals can pull off the upset of the Chiefs (20:10). Why the 49ers will win their 7th straight against the Rams (35:09). The Bears reportedly have their new head coach in Matt Eberflus (47:30). Dan Quinn is staying with the Cowboys (51:09).

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