Philadelphia Eagles: Doug Pederson is still available, just FYI

Doug Pederson is a Super Bowl champion.

In the history of these United States, only 34 people have accomplished that feat, with only seven active coaches featuring the game’s biggest win on their resume now that Sean Payton has retired from New Orleans.

If you’re a mediocre team with some good pieces in place looking to take things over the top, Pederson should be your guy. If you’re a bad team that’s been bad for a very long time, Pederson brings the pedigree of a coach who transformed the remnants of the Chip Kelly era into a Super Bowl champion in Year 2.

Have a young quarterback? Pederson turned Carson Wentz into an MVP candidate early in his career. Have a veteran quarterback stuck in a rut? Pederson played QB for over a decade professionally and understands the position better than most.

And yet? With head coaching gigs coming off the board in a hurry, it looks like Doug Pederson will be watching games, of the Philadelphia Eagles or otherwise, from home for the second straight season. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

The former Philadelphia Eagles head coach should be more in demand.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t understand why Doug Pederson isn’t a head coach right now.

Now sure, he was fired pretty late in the 2021 cycle and may have missed out on a few opportunities that he would have been good for. He was reportedly offered a spot as the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, which would have been an interesting stopgap, but instead spent the 2021 preseason popping into camps around the league and, presumably at least, garnering some goodwill around the league.

In 2022, however, Pederson had a leg up on many of his fellow candidates, more than coaches like DeMeco Ryans or Eric Bieniemy, who still have on-field commitments with their current teams. And yet, according to the NFL’s official website, Pederson only interviewed for two head coaching jobs, one with the Chicago Bears, who already hired Jonathan Gannon’s former boss (more on that here), and another with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who appear relatively rudderless at this point in the offseason.

Could Pederson get another call, maybe from the New Orleans Saints? Sure, Pederson played his college ball at La-Monroe and brings a fun, Mardi Gras sort of energy in his unique, visor sporting way, but at this point, it feels like a borderline guarantee that the former head coach with a very fun nickname will be out of the league entirely for the second straight season.

If that happens, it’ll be a true shame, because the NFL is just better with Pederson on a sideline.

Maybe Doug Pederson’s 2020 season with the Philadelphia Eagles left a bad taste in the NFL’s collective mouths. Maybe his clashes with Howie Roseman or eventual firing by Jeffrey Lurie gave some teams pause or Nick Sirianni’s improved performance with basically the same roster called into question Pederson’s coaching abilities. But for teams that haven’t won a playoff game in some time, let alone even made it into the postseason, hiring a Super Bowl champion feels like a safer bet than some unproven coordinator from a flashy team.