Philadelphia Eagles: Dissecting the messy Doug Pederson situation

Philadelphia Eagles have a tough decision to make with Doug Pederson.

A week ago, and everyone appeared to be operating under the belief that Doug Pederson would be returning as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach in 2021. Pederson routinely talked about the upcoming offseason, he was supposedly encouraged to “tank” in Week 17, and every report out there was stating that owner Jeffery Lurie planned to keep his Super Bowl winning coach around for at least one more season.

However, things have changed.

According to Tim McManus and Chris Mortensen, Lurie was not pleased with how his first meeting went with Doug. The two parties spoke in detail on how Doug plans to fix the offense and (more importantly) fix Carson Wentz, and Lurie reportedly left that meeting feeling less than thrilled. This could lead to Lurie moving on from Pederson altogether, which would set off a chain reaction of events that would ultimately reshape the Philadelphia Eagles organization altogether.

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Here’s my analysis on the situation:

For starters, Lurie is correct to be worried about the direction of his team’s offense. While Doug Pederson obviously has an impressive coaching resume, the offense has been trending in the wrong direction under his watch. They ranked 14th in total offense in 2018, 14th in 2019, and then 24th in 2020. That’s a pretty sizable drop-off from the team’s 7th overall ranking in 2017, and that primarily falls on Doug Pederson as a play caller.

The Eagles have dealt with more injuries than most teams during this timeframe, but that still doesn’t excuse the misuse of players like Nelson Agholor for example (who just had a career year with the Las Vegas Raiders).

Additionally, Carson Wentz’ perceived regression that just took place in 2020 is another major red flag to the entire dilemma. While Wentz hasn’t been that 2017 MVP version of himself in quite some time, he was still an incredibly productive quarterback in 2018 and 2019. Seeing him drop from a top-10 talent to arguably the worst starter in football is beyond alarming, and something that Pederson shares some level of blame in.

Throw in the fact that Jalen Hurts struggled massively against Washington and Dallas down the stretch, and it’s borderline impossible to say that Doug’s scheme isn’t having a negative impact on quarterbacks.

Doug’s play calling was routinely put on blast by ex-players and analysts this season, and most fans could tell something was off as well. Pederson rarely drew up creative play designs, failed to create easy yards for his offense, and routinely abandoned the run despite its statistical success. Despite all this, Pederson reportedly expressed a lack of urgency when it came to improving the offense moving forward, something that severely frustrated Lurie:

"While Pederson’s fragile status does not necessarily focus around Wentz’s issues, according to sources, his description when pressed about the team’s offensive identity during one internal meeting with management was “troubling.” His plan to address his coaching staff also lacked urgency, the sources added."

On top of all that, there’s the reported riff that has developed between Wentz and Pederson. This is a annoying situation because this partnership has proven that they can create some magic together in the past, but at some point a fractured relationship is simply too far gone. Watching Pederson open up the playbook for Jalen Hurts later in the season must’ve been incredibly frustrating for Wentz, and it’s led to a scenario where Wentz supposedly wants a trade away from Philadelphia this offseason.

If Lurie is hellbent on keeping his franchise QB around, he may have to choose between Wentz and Doug.

The final ripple in all of this is the fact that a trade between the New York Jets and the Eagles for Doug Pederson has reportedly been discussed. Trading head coaches is technically allowed, and the potential to receive some compensation back for Doug may be too good to pass on for Howie Roseman and company. It’d be a completely whacky scenario don’t get me wrong, but the idea has been thrown out there nevertheless.

There’s a genuine argument to be made that Howie Roseman and his decision making processes are primarily to blame for a lot of the team’s offensive struggles, but a Roseman firing seems near impossible at the point in time. Lurie thinks too highly of him.

Ultimately speaking, the decision to move on from Doug Pederson is not an easy one. He’s the franchise’s only Super Bowl winning head coach, and he’s wildly respected around the league. However, at some point in time, Lurie has to decide on the direction he wants his football team to head. Wentz and Pederson were acquired to elevate the Eagles into one of the best offensive units in the NFL. At the moment, they’re one of the worst.

Lurie could try to run back the trio of Roseman, Pederson, and Wentz one more time in 2021 – but it’d honestly feel like beating a dead horse. You can’t win four games and not making any serious changes, and Pederson feels like the one who’s going to take the brunt of the blame. He’s repeatedly expressed a lack of desire to switch up his scheme or change up play calling duties – you simply can’t do that when you employ one of the worst offenses in all of football.

Pederson is set to have another meeting with Lurie on Monday morning in Florida, one that will likely determine his final status as the Eagles head coach moving forward. Play calling, coaching staff, player development, and Carson Wentz will all assumingely be discussed.