Eagles announce reshuffled coaching staff, which includes a splitting of the offensive coordinator duties
Press Taylor and Jeff Stoutland will split the responsibilities of former coordinator Mike Groh, who has resurfaced as the Colts' wide receivers coach.
All the pieces are finally in place.
Fans fretting about the pace of the Eagles’ coaching staff hiring process can stand down; the team announced all the replacement moves at once Thursday afternoon. There were no big surprises — nearly every hire leaked out beforehand, the headline of the reshuffling being the team’s decision to not employ an offensive coordinator to replace Mike Groh, who was dismissed last month and has become the Colts’ wide receivers coach under former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, now the head coach in Indianapolis.
Instead, 32-year-old quarterbacks coach Press Taylor will assume the title of passing game coordinator, complementing offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who already held the title of running game coordinator.
The Eagles won’t be the only team to do it this way — San Francisco got to Super Bowl LIV with the same setup — but the local team hasn’t gone without an offensive coordinator in recent memory, and there will be a good bit of interest in how it all shakes out, especially since the Eagles also announced they were adding former Denver offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello as a “senior offensive assistant” and Andrew Breiner as “pass game analyst.”
Given the offense’s struggles last season, there was considerable sentiment that the staff needed an injection of innovative thinking, outside of head coach Doug Pederson’s West Coast-based setup. Scangarello or Breiner could provide that, depending on how much influence they actually wield.
As previously reported here and elsewhere, Matt Burke is the new defensive line coach, replacing Phillip Daniels, who was dismissed. Burke, a former Dolphins defensive coordinator who joined the Eagles’ staff last year, also will carry the title of defensive run game coordinator. And Marquand Manuel, formerly defensive coordinator for the Falcons, is the new defensive backs coach, replacing Cory Undlin, who left to become the Lions’ defensive coordinator.
The new wide receivers coach is former Colts wide receiver Aaron Moorehead, who has been coaching wideouts at Vanderbilt. Moorehead and his father, Emery, were the first father-son duo in which both men won the Super Bowl — Emery with the 1985 Bears, Aaron with the 2006 Colts. Moorehead will be the sixth Eagles wide receivers coach in as many seasons. He replaces Carson Walch.
Assistant secondary coach Dino Vasso,a Ridley High grad, gained the title of assistant defensive coordinator, and assistant running backs coach T.J. Paganetti added the title of of assistant run game coordinator.
All told, the staff might reflect more promotion from within than some fans were hoping for, since the Eagles have gone 9-7 in each of the two seasons since they won Super Bowl LII. But it’s clear management wasn’t happy with player development under the 2019 staff, and wanted change.