For all intents and purposes, the Philadelphia Eagles are a mess right now.
The future of Carson Wentz is up in the air with reports of a potential trade request still lingering. After Doug Pederson’s job security initially seemed intact, reports surfaced on Sunday that he may still be gone this offseason. GM Howie Roseman, a person many Eagles fans place the bulk of the blame on, is the only person in the building who we know without a doubt will be back next year. Go figure.
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It seems like there’s a new anonymous report regarding Eagles leadership every week. This type of constant drama is the mark of a truly dysfunctional franchise.
We can sit here and try to divvy up the blame between Wentz, Doug, and Howie all we want, but perhaps it’s time we start directing that blame towards the man in charge, Jeffrey Lurie.
Lurie is well respected around the league, and before this dumpster fire of a season, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Philly who wanted him to sell the team. But the constant meddling in football operations from the owner has only driven this organization deeper into irrelevancy.
The meddling can be traced back to last season, when Lurie essentially forced Pederson to fire his offensive coordinator and wide receiver coach 24 hours after Pederson told the media they’d both be back. Lurie subsequently had Pederson hire a peculiar crop of offensive coaches, handing them titles like ‘Senior Offensive Assistant’ or ‘Senior Offensive Consultant.’
The offensive product we saw on the field this season was abysmal. With too many chefs in the kitchen, the offense never found any kind of identity, and nearly every offensive player suffered because of it.
We’ve been led to believe that Pederson has full control over his offensive coaching staff, but it’s clear that that is not the case. Mike Groh may have not been the best offensive coordinator on the planet, but the offense looked a lot better during the final stretch of games in 2019, his final season. We’ve all ragged on Pederson for not listening to the offensive coaches around him, especially this past season, but why would he listen to a bunch of guys that he didn’t even choose to work with?
Having too many offensive voices also clearly hurt Wentz’s game this season. Quarterbacks need some type of stability around them to succeed, and Wentz hasn’t had that from his offensive coaching staff.
Pederson hasn’t been put in a great position to succeed, yet, he’s the one who has the answer all the questions while his GM and owner sit back and watch.
We still don’t know if Pederson will be back next season, though we’ll probably have a clearer picture after he and Lurie meet on Monday. But what we do know, is that it would be ridiculous to scapegoat Pederson, and possibly Wentz, after one terrible season and not hold the general manager, who has had three straight bad offseasons, accountable in any way.
That’s on Lurie. We all know Lurie and Roseman have a great personal relationship, but allowing that personal relationship to undermine what’s best for the team is almost unforgiveable. If Pederson is fired, he’ll be snatched up almost immediately. The same can be said for Wentz if the team decides to trade him — we’ve already heard a handful of teams will likely show interest in him this offseason.
As for Roseman, I’m not sure if he’d immediately get another GM role anywhere else. There certainly isn’t another owner in this league who holds Roseman in high regards quite like Lurie does.
If Lurie decides to part ways with Pederson in favor of Roseman this offseason, it would be a mistake. Until Lurie starts treating Roseman with a critical eye, the Eagles will continue to suffer.