Doug Pederson’s fifth season as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles was also his last.
Pederson is out as the Eagles coach, the team announced Monday.
“Coach Pederson and I had the opportunity to sit down and discuss what that collective vision would look like moving forward,” Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said in a statement. “After taking some time to reflect on these conversations, I believe it is in both of our best interests to part ways.”
Pederson’s firing comes on the heels of a meeting between Pederson and Lurie last week, which ESPN reported “did not go well.” The report also said that Lurie remained “undecided” on whether to retain Pederson and that there would be another meeting this week.
Following a season-ending loss to the Washington Football Team, Pederson voiced confidence he was going to be back as head coach for a sixth season.
“I feel fully confident to be the head coach of the Eagles in 2021,” Pederson said. “The thing I’m most proud of this football team, we have been in the postseason three of the last five years since I’ve been here and that’s pretty good.”
Pederson led the Eagles to their only Super Bowl win in franchise history after the 2017 season, and he posted a overall record of 46-39-1 in five seasons with the Eagles. Since the win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, however, the Eagles are 22-25-1. Pederson had a 4-2 playoff record with Philadelphia.
Lurie reportedly had concerns that included Pederson’s plan to fix an offense that underperformed in 2020, the future at the quarterback position and the makeup of the coaching staff. The contracts of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, senior offensive assistant Rich Scangarello and senior offensive consultant Marty Mornhinweg expired, and they will not be returning.
Pederson reportedly preferred to fill the offensive coordinator role with Press Taylor, the team’s 32-year-old quarterbacks coach. ESPN reported Lurie wanted the position filled from outside the organization.
The Eagles’ offense ranked 24th in the NFL in yards per game (334.6), 26th in scoring (20.9 points) and 28th in passing yards (207.9). Pederson removed Carson Wentz as the starting quarterback after 12 games and replaced him with rookie Jalen Hurts.
Multiple outlets have reported Wentz wants time to determine where he stands on returning to the Eagles, despite being under contract. General manager Howie Roseman indicated the day after the season ended that trading Wentz wasn’t an option.
“When you have players like that, they’re like fingers on your hand,” Roseman said. “You can’t imagine that they’re not part of you, that they’re not here. That’s how we feel about Carson.”
–Field Level Media
