Philadelphia Eagles: Jeff Garcia should be the Eagles' next QBs coach

With former quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo now with the Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles should bring in their baby, Jeff Garcia to fill his shoes.

Now that the dust has finally settled from the Philadelphia Eagles‘ first-ever Super Bowl victory, fans across the globe have already started looking forward to their favorite team returning to the sport’s biggest stage. But unfortunately for the Eagles, they will have to do so without two of their top offensive assistant coaches.

With offensive coordinator Frank Reich leaving the team to become the Indianapolis Colts‘ head coach, and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo prematurely jumping ship to become the offensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings, the Eagles will have some fresh faces in their offensive meeting room, but what if the team brought back a former fan favorite to add some familiarity to Doug Pederson‘s offense?

For better or for worse, the Eagles have prioritized signing coaches who actually played the game, especially ones who donned the midnight green, and one intriguing option for the team’s vacant quarterbacks coaching position could be former Eagles backup quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Yes, that Jeff Garcia.

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Much like Pederson, Garcia came to Philadelphia during the Andy Reid-era to back up Donovan McNabb and became a folk hero in the City of Brotherly Love in 2006 when the journeyman appeared in 10 games for the Eagles and lead the team to the second round of the playoffs. Though Garcia left the following season to compete for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ starting quarterback position, he eventually returned for one final game in midnight green, a 34-14 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, in what would be his final appearance as a pro.

And while Garcia has been out of the league for almost a decade at this point, he still remains present in the hearts of many Philly fans, as highlighted by his frequent interactions with Eagles fans online this past season. So when news broke that Garcia reached out to new Oakland Raiders head coach Jon Gruden about the team’s vacant quarterbacks coaching position, it only seems right that the Eagles should also be interested in the former San Jose State letterman.

Though Garcia doesn’t have a plethora of professional coaching experience, having only coached quarterbacks for the Montreal Argonauts in 2014, and served as an offensive assistant for the then-St. Louis Rams in 2015, the four-time All-Star spend 17 years of his life playing quarterback professionally and may have a better grasp of the game than almost any other former player. His ability to see the field both as a quarterback and as a coach could be invaluable for the continued development of Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, and Nate Sudfeld in 2018, and give Coach Pederson yet another former coach to help design offensive gameplans tailor-made to the team’s signal callers.

With the Eagles organization priding themselves on hiring former players and helping them continue their professional careers on the sidelines, Garcia may be the next man up in a pretty impressive string of success stories. I mean, the transition has worked out pretty well for the last two birds Jeffrey Lurie hired on as coaches, Doug Pederson, and Duce Staley, right?

While the team could simply choose to forgo Garcia, and move current wide receivers coach Mike Groh, who actually played quarterback at the University of Virginia, into their vacant quarterbacks coaching spot, Groh has been an absolute revelation coaching the Eagles’ wide receivers, and may simply be too good at his current job to make a move. Keeping Alshon Jeffery, Torrey Smith and Nelson Agholor productive in 2018 has to be a priority for the team, especially with Wentz still rehabbing a torn ACL, and shifting Groh’s responsibilities to coaching quarterbacks could risk the receiving core’s newfound chemistry.

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Regardless of who the Eagles select to coach their young stable of quarterbacks, it’s essential that Pederson, Lurie and Howie Roseman select a candidate who both understands the position and can help Wentz and company continue to progress both on and off the field. While Garcia doesn’t have a plethora of professional coaching experience, he more than makes up for that with his experience playing the game for 17 seasons and could be an invaluable addition to Pederson’s 2018 coaching staff.

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Philadelphia Eagles: Jeff Garcia should be the Eagles’ next QBs coach

By Matty Breisch | Feb 12, 2018

With former quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo now with the Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles should bring in their baby, Jeff Garcia to fill his shoes.

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