Seth Vigdor
We now know that Doug Pederson has arrived in Philadelphia to become the Eagles’ next head coach. What we also know is that last week it appeared as theough the Eagles were trying to swoop in and make then Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo their next head coach. However, something transpired where the Giants quickly got an interview and the rest is history. McAdoo is now the head coach of the Giants.
But what actually transpired in that small window that the Eagles thought they had McAdoo – then didn’t? Peter King has provided more details in his Monday Morning Quarterback column in regards to the whole Ben McAdoo situation. Here’s what King said courtesy of Philly Mag.
I think if you follow the logic, it’s quite possible that the speed of the owners’ decision regarding the Los Angeles franchise shift last week played a role in the balance of power of the NFC East. So the NFL scheduled a two-day meeting to determine which team or teams would move to Los Angeles, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in Houston. But the meeting lasted only one day, and the owners, most of them, flew home late Tuesday night. On Wednesday, with one of the six NFL L.A. Committee members, Giants CEO John Mara, back in the office, the Giants could pay full attention to the coaching search.
Mara told GM Jerry Reese to schedule a second interview with offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo for Thursday. Reese called McAdoo, who was in his home office in New Jersey preparing for his second interview on Thursday with the Eagles. You know what second interviews mean—usually but not always they mean a job offer is forthcoming. McAdoo had a strong feeling that was going to be the case. He told Reese he would be in Philadelphia on Thursday morning. Reese then told Mara the news, and Mara said they should move the second interview for McAdoo with the Giants up to Wednesday—like, in a matter of a couple of hours. McAdoo came in, they worked out the deal, and he was the coach of the Giants, not the Eagles.
One more amazing part of this story: I believe the Eagles would ultimately have been fine with either Tom Coughlin or McAdoo as coach, and neither took the job. Coughlin, I’m told, wasn’t enthusiastic about forming a brand new coaching staff at 69 (70 next August) and wasn’t sure how his working relationship with Eagles football czar Howie Roseman would go. So the Eagles chose Andy Reid disciple and former quarterback Doug Pederson.
Now here’s the thing. In the last couple days Ron Jaworski has come out and admitted that he was part of the coaching search with the Eagles. He even laid out the exact details on the coaching search. But, I still think that Jaworski’s inclusion into this is a total public relations stunt to clean up a clearly flawed coaching search. And the more that he rambles about what he/they did, the more I’m certain of this.
Then you have the note in King’s piece of Coughlin not being sure about how the working relationship with “Eagles football czar Howie Roseman” would go. This makes me want to vomit. Clearly Roseman is going to be a handicap on this organization until Jeff Lurie sees what the rest of the world sees. Roseman is a cancer.