July 27, 2020
One of the fairly obvious advantages that the Philadelphia Eagles have heading into the 2020 NFL season is the fact that the team's head coach, defensive coordinator, and quarterback will all be heading into their fifth year together, while all three of their division rivals hired new coaching staffs.
While he stopped short of calling that situation an advantage, Doug Pederson did acknowledge the difficulty that some teams around the league that hired new staffs will face as a result of this COVID-shortened offseason.
"I’ve thought about that, with the new staffs, just in our division here and in our conference, and it’s got to be extremely tough not to be around," Pederson said. "They spent a little bit of time, maybe a few weeks, way back in February and March, maybe together. It’d be hard.
"And then not having your players in the offseason, and trying to teach a new offense, defense, special teams, I’m sure is probably difficult in its own right. We’ve been blessed – I’ve been blessed – going into my fifth year here in Philadelphia and maintaining the staff that I have, and adding some great additions to the staff this year.
"And I think that our players are excited, because they’re not having to learn a new offense, defense, or special teams.
"I’m not necessarily thinking it’s going to be a leg up, but at the same time it does give us confidence going into camp that we all are on the same page."
At look at the other teams in the NFC East:
• Cowboys: Dallas fired Jason Garrett, and replaced him with Mike McCarthy. They also hired Mike Nolan as their defensive coordinator. McCarthy has 13 years of head coaching experience in Green Bay, and it's noteworhty that the Cowboys retained offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. They also are returning Dak Prescott, so it's not a complete turnover, offensively. Nolan, meanwhile, has been coaching in the NFL since 1987, so he brings experience to the table as well, but will be installing a new defense in a short amount of time.
• Giants: The Giants probably have the biggest challenge of the Eagles' divisional rivals, as they fired Pat Shurmur and hired a rookie head coach in Joe Judge, a former special teams coordinator, as well as a defensive coordinator in Patrick Graham, who only has one year of DC experience (last season in Miami). They hired Garrett to be the offensive coordinator, and they'll be returning second-year quarterback Daniel Jones. Their players will have to learn a new offense and defense.
• The Washington Football Team: The Washington Football Team hired Ron Rivera, who has nine years of head coaching experience. Scott Turner, who was Carolina's quarterbacks coach last season, came with Rivera to be the offensive coordinator. He'll have to get on the same page with second year quarterback Dwayne Haskins. The Washington Football Team also hired Jack Del Rio to be the defensive coordinator. Like with the Giants, their players will have to learn a new offense and defense.
The only other NFL teams to hire new head coaches this offseason were the Panthers (Matt Rhule) and Browns (Kevin Stefanski).
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