Philadelphia Eagles interview current staff member but lose another

As Philadelphia Eagles fans await the introduction of four new assistant coaches, a couple of stories surface that are worth mentioning.

Perhaps the biggest story of the Philadelphia Eagles offseason so far has been trying to determine what they’re going to do about the four coaching vacancies they desperately need to fill (and nail). The Eagles need to fill positions at offensive coordinator, defensive line coach, defensive backs coach (who many are speculating might wind up being Marquand Manuel), and they need someone to lead the wide receiver corps. Many of the surrounding narratives have been what you’d expect.

Nothing’s equated to much more than who they should or shouldn’t hire and why. As name after name was brought up, they seemingly were dismissed just as quickly. That could be attributed to everything from former Eagles head coach Andy Reid blocking the move (Mike Kafka) to said prospect deciding to forego the opportunity and remain in the current position (Graham Harrell).

In the days leading up to Super Bowl LIV, a report by NBC Sports Philly’s John Clark detailed Philly’s decision to announce coaching changes towards the end of February’s first full week. That could mean Philly’s waiting to interview someone from the Kansas City Chiefs or San Francisco 49ers, but there are no guaranteed statements to support that theory (although Mike McDaniel and Mike LaFleur of the Niners are both very interesting coaching prospects).

Not much has happened in the way of action since we read Clark’s report, but as January reached its close, details surfaced of two stories that Eagles fans and the Philly media will find interesting. One, ESPN’s Tim McManus reported Philly’s quarterback coach Press Taylor interviewed for the offensive coordinator position, and second, thanks to a report by ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, we also know that offensive special projects coach G.J. Kinne is leaving Philly to serve as the offensive coordinator for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.

That reunites him with his former head coach Todd Graham as both spent time working together as part of the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes’ coaching staff.

Conventional wisdom would state that Taylor won’t be given the OC job as Eagles chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie seems more interested in the outside hire of someone that already has experience in the position, but at this point, most of what we’re all debating hasn’t fostered much more than a few educated guesses. We shouldn’t have to wait much longer to get some real clarity.