Joe Douglas, John DeFilippo to remain with Philadelphia Eagles (for now)
Joe Douglas, the Philadelphia Eagles vice president of player personnel, won’t be leaving the Novacare Complex just yet.
The word is consistency. It’s a term that’s been thrown all over the Novacare Complex, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ version of the ‘Bat Cave’. Consistency is why most Eagles fans would admit that they really don’t want defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz to go anywhere. You can add quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo and vice president of player personnel Joe Douglas to that list as well.
All three were on the radars of other NFL teams. All three had the possibility of accepting jobs with other franchises just this week. Sure, as human beings, we’d like to see all of them grow. As fans, however, we’d selfishly like for them all to stay in the Eagles organization. That may not happen forever, but for now, they’ll be staying put. The band hasn’t broken up yet.
A quick look back and a look ahead.
Philadelphia Eagles
After what seemed like a slew of interviews over the past week (teams were only able to interview Eagles staff during the team’s bye week), it appears that Schwartz may not be headed to Philly’s rivals after all. DeFilippo interviewed with the Chicago Bears on January 6th, but they decided to go in another direction with the hire of Matt Nagy. That left Joe Douglas and the possibility of him heading to the Houston Texans to take over as general manager.
We now know that the Texans have opted not to wait until the end of the season for the chance to interview Douglas. They’ve agreed to a deal with former Buffalo Bills vice president of player personnel Brian Gaine as he’ll take the reigns in Houston.
As much as any fan of Joe Douglas will share in some of the disappointment that this may not have worked out for him, no fan of the Eagles is going to complain that he’s still around. He’s kind of worked his way into the hearts of fans already.
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Don’t expect Eagles fans to complain.
Douglas’ chief role is putting the Eagles draft board together. Last April, he became the key component in a draft that brought defensive end Derek Barnett, wide receiver Mack Hollins and defensive backs Rasul Douglas and Sidney Jones to Philly. Eagles executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman has the final say in all personnel decisions. Still, the relationship he built with Douglas was key in Philly’s 2017 regular-season success and will be key in the team’s success going forward.
Expect a pretty enticing deal to be offered to Douglas at season’s end. The goal is to keep him around for a while, and to be honest, he’s kind of earned one.