Philadelphia Eagles: Graham Harrell made a mistake returning to USC

By opting to return to USC over the Philadelphia Eagles, Graham Harrell made a calculated risk that his career would be improved as a play-calling offensive coordinator. That looks like a mistake.

There once was a time where Graham Harrell was the overwhelming favorite to replace Mike Groh as the Philadelphia Eagles‘ offensive coordinator.

It didn’t happen, he decided to return to USC in the same role – which set off a series of events that have left the Eagles’ without a true offensive coordinator in 2020 – but for a time, writers like myself openly pondered just how much the 34-year-old’s fingerprints would mark up Doug Pederson‘s idiosyncratic offensive system.

In 2019, the Eagles’ base package was 11 personnel, or three wide receivers, one running back, and one tight end. While they changed things up on occasion, playing 12 personnel with both Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert on the field at the same time, 13 personnel with three tight ends, 10 personnel with four wide receivers and a running back, and even the occasional heavy package with additional offensive linemen lined up in-line, the traditional elements of Andy Reid‘s OG West Coast offense remained stables of the Eagles’ offensive philosophy.

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In theory, Harrell’s addition may have added a few more wrinkles to the Eagles’ offense.

To be fair, Harrell isn’t technically running his own offense at USC, as the team’s head coach, Clay Helton, also rose through the ranks of college football on the offensive side of the ball. Still, once the failed NFL quarterback-turned-coach arrived in University Park, the Trojans’ passing game took a serious step forward.

A disciple of Mike Leach both as a quarterback at Texas Tech from 2004-08 and as Washington State‘s wide receivers coach from 2014-15, Harrell made his name for running a finely-tuned set of plays that utilize multiple-wide receivers out of a variety of fast-paced offensive sets. Under Harrell’s watchful eye as a hands-on offensive coordinator frm 2016-18, North Texas put together two straight nine-win seasons, their first consecutive winning seasons since 2003-2004.

Fun Fact: If Mason Fines ends up on an NFL roster this fall, he’ll be one of only three North Texas players in the NFL alongside Dallas Cowboys fullback Jamize Olawale and New Orleans linebacker Craig Robertson. Though Fines remains unsigned almost a month after the 2020 NFL Draft, it’s hard to imagine a quarterback who threw for 12,505 yards in college remaining unemployed going into training camp.

After suffering through an ugly 2018 season post-Sam Darnold – a season that nearly saw Helton replaced with future Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury – Harrell brought new life to the Trojans’ offensive attack – transforming Michael Pittman and Amon-Ra St. Brown into marquee NFL prospects and Kedon Slovis into a household name.

Apparently, continuing on with the ‘USC revitalization project’ meant more to Harrell than becoming the offensive coordinator for a head coach with an ever-expanding coaching tree.

Granted, it’s not like Harrell would have been allowed to call plays for the Eagles’ offense in 2020, as Pederson would seemingly sooner give up his post entirely than allow someone else to call the offense, but after watching the Eagles’ offense ranked 12th overall in 2019 due to some horrendous wide receiver play, any bolstered output from the unit in 2020 would have been heavily attributed to an upgraded OC.

And then there’s the added arsenal of offensive weapons the Eagles have amassed over the last month in the draft and via trade. With eight viable NFL wide receivers currently under contract, five of whom ran sub-4.5 coming out of college, the Eagles could conceivably deploy all sorts of creative five receivers sets that feast on mismatches and exploit a defenses’ weaknesses. Factor in a pair of pass-catching running backs in Boston Scott and Miles Sanders and the Eagles could finally reach have a top-tier offense for the first time since 2017.

Do you recall something good happening in 2017?

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By forgoing a chance to coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, Graham Harrell made a calculated risk that his career would be elevated more by another season at USC than a chance to serve as a non-play-calling offensive coordinator for a playoff-bound NFL team. Even if the Trojans are able to play college football this fall, an outcome that seems rather unlikely at this point, that seems like a mistake. Frank Reich served as Philly’s offensive coordinator during the Eagles’ 2017 Super Bowl run and he was offered a head coaching gig not two months after parading down Broad Street a champion. Barring something truly unforeseen, it would appear the only head coaching gig Harrell has a shot at in 2021 belongs to Clay Helton’s at USC, a gig that becomes harder to land the better he does at his job. Isn’t that ironic?

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