Doug Pederson’s Phenomenal Offseason Thus Far

Head coach Doug Pederson has surprised some and exceeded the expectations of others with a phenomenal off-season.

In the span of five months, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson has accumulated an unparalleled amount of experience. That experience does not include a single snap of game action nor does it include the adversity of losing a player to injury. Pederson has yet to deal with losing streak that would send the fan base and media into a frenzy. Pederson’s experience as a head coach during a game won’t take place until August, but in the meantime he has dealt with as much off-field adversity as one could envision, and he’s handled it as a true professional.

Questions have arisen from the very beginning, primarily centered on Pederson’s experience, or lack thereof. While Pederson did not have the resume as some prospective candidates, such as Tom Coughlin, should that have precluded him from being hired? Pederson has nearly the same amount of experience as an offensive coordinator in the NFL as Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase.

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Of course, the elephant in the room this offseason was the contract situation of both quarterback Sam Bradford and defensive lineman Fletcher Cox. It’s not often that a new coach faces two potential holdouts in his first five months on the job. To Pederson’s credit, he not only has handled it like a boss, he’s earned the admiration and respect of the locker room in the process.

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Bradford and Cox both reported to the Eagles’ mandatory minicamp, ending any threat of a potential holdout from either player. Cox had stated that he expects to be present at training camp as well. That of course was prior to his enormous contract extension. Now Pederson should have a full compliment of players available for the start of training camp, provided of course that no players have any off the field occurrences that would jeopardize their status.

Last Friday, it was reported that second-year wide receiver Nelson Agholor was accused of sexually assaulting an exotic dancer. Additionally, at least two teammates accompanied Agholor to the establishment, including linebacker Connor Barwin. While we will have to allow the facts to come out in their entirety, it’s another challenge for a first-year head coach to deal with in a major media market. Thus far, he has handled the situation as well as any veteran coach in the league.

Training camp is a little more than a month away. While we have a while to figure out what type of head coach Pederson is on Sundays, the first few months of 2016 have shown that he is more than capable of being a leader. The Eagles have their franchise quarterback waiting in the wings, and have some high-upside players selected late in the draft. Given his successful navigation of the offseason thus far, we should have high hopes for the Eagles during the Doug Pederson regime.