Roob's Random Observations: Some coaching candidates the Eagles should consider

By Reuben Frank • Published January 25, 2026

Some offensive coordinator options who the Eagles haven’t been linked with, options for WR2 if A.J. Brown isn't here and the chances of Jason Kelce and Jason Peters going into the Hall of Fame at the same time.

You know what I’ll miss this year? Doing 10 Obs every day during Super Bowl week. I started doing that in Arizona in 2017 and did it again in Minneapolis in 2022 and New Orleans last year. No daily Obs this year, but you will get a fresh batch every Sunday during the offseason. And when the Eagles get back to a Super Bowl, we're back in business.

Here’s our latest installment!   

1. We’ve been hearing the same names since Kevin Patullo was dismissed. Brian Daboll, Mike McDaniel, Bobby Slowik, Jim Bob Cooter, Matt Nagy, Mike Kafka. Not all still available and the ones who are don’t seem like anything to be excited about. But what about some of the guys the Eagles haven’t been linked with? Here are a half dozen guys the Eagles aren’t known to have interviewed or reached out to who might make more sense than a rookie play caller or another retread. Hey, Howie, get these guys on the phone! 

Joe Brady: Sean McDermott’s former offensive coordinator is a hot name right now and could wind up as McDermott’s successor in Buffalo. But if he doesn’t get a HC job he would make one heck of a play caller for the Eagles. Brady worked wonders with Joe Burrow at LSU and did a terrific job in Buffalo despite a lack of elite talent around Josh Allen. Importantly, a guy who understands the value of a quarterback using his legs to make plays.

Jerrod Johnson: One-time Eagles training camp quarterback in the summer of 2011, Johnson spent a year with Nick Sirianni in Indianapolis before stints with the Vikings and Texans. The Eagles already have a relationship with Johnson, having interviewed him for the offensive coordinator spot two years ago when they were seeking a replacement for Brian Johnson.

Kliff Kingsbury: Kingsbury would seem to have all the requirements the Eagles are looking for. He comes from the Shanahan coaching tree, he has head coaching experience and he’s gotten the most out of quarterbacks such as Patrick Mahomes at Texas A&M, Kyler Murray with the Cards and Jayden Daniels with the Commanders. Also a one-time teammate of Tom Brady, which can’t hurt.

Tee Martin: Long-time John Harbaugh assistant in Baltimore was on the Eagles’ practice squad back in 2002. When you can put working with an NFL MVP on your resume that’s impressive, and Lamar Jackson is known to be a fan of Martin’s. You also like the fact that Martin has good experiene with a dual-threat QB because getting Jalen Hurts to get back to making plays with his legs is mandatory for whoever replaces Patullo.

David Shaw: Another highly regarded coach who has spent time with the Eagles. Shaw started his NFL coaching career as a quality control coach under Ray Rhodes in 1997, where he coached alongside future NFL head coaches Jon Gruden, Bill Callahan and Sean Payton, before spending time with the Raiders and Ravens before becoming head coach at Stanford, where he became the winningest coach in school history. He spent this past year as passing game coordinator with the Lions, and although the Lions’ season ended in disappointment, Jared Goff had one of his best seasons. Shaw is considered an innovative offensive mind who gets the most out of his personnel and could be a great fit here. 

Davis Webb: Only a few years removed from his playing career, Webb has already become a highly regarded assistant coach after spending the last three years with Sean Payton in Denver, first as quarterbacks coach and this past year with passing game coordinator added to his title. Webb played under Brian Daboll and Joe Brady and played with Josh Allen, Josh McCown and Eli Manning. A real up-and-comer in the offensive coaching world.

2. The Eagles averaged below 5.0 yards per play in an absurd nine games this year, their most games below 5.0 yards per play since 2001. Only the Browns, Jets, Titans and Raiders had more games without averaging 5.0 yards per play this year.

3. Jason Kelce and Jason Peters will both be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2029, and can you imagine if two guys from the same offensive line went into the Hall the same year? It’s still a longshot. Although Kelce is a 1st-ballot lock, Peters may not be. He only made 1st-team all-pro twice to Kelce’s six and where Kelce finished his career as a perennial all-pro Peters didn’t make a Pro Bowl or all-pro in his last even years and that can hurt a player’s chances. I do think Peters will eventually go in. Only five offensive tackles made more Pro Bowls than his nine and they’re all either in the Hall of Fame or still playing and a lock to go in (Trent Williams), I’m just not sure it’ll be first ballot, although I would vote for him. The last pair of long-time offensive line teammates to go into the Hall of Fame the same year was George and Link Lyman, who were teammates with the Bears from 1926 through 1932 and went into the Hall together in 1964 along with another former Bears lineman, Ed Healey, who was with the Bears from 1922 through 1927. In 1926 and 1927 all three played together and all went into the Hall together in 1964.  It would be a longshot for Kelce and J.P. to go into Canton the same year, but it would be amazing. Especially if Lane Johnson follows them a few years later.

4. What if A.J. Brown isn’t here? Then what? Should Howie Roseman go get a wide receiver in the first round? It looks like a good WR draft, although the top four or five guys will be gone if the Eagles stay at No. 23. But there should be good options at 23, including Washington’s Denzel Boston, Georgia’s Zachariah Branch and Tennessee’s Chris Brazzell II. The Eagles haven’t drafted a WR in the first four rounds of the last four drafts, since DeVonta Smith in 2021. So they’re due. There aren’t a ton of realistic options in free agency, although Nick Sirianni favorite Keenan Allen is due to hit the market. But he’s 32 and not the player he was in his first go-round with the Chargers. It would be fun to snag George Pickens from the Cowboys after they poached Christian Parker as their defensive coordinator. But the Cowboys aren’t going to let Pickens go after the year he had. In-house? The Eagles like Darius Cooper, and he’s got a high ceiling, but it would be foolish to think he can step in next year and be a legit WR2. Quez Watkins is still around, but his one good season was back in 2021, and it’s hard to imagine him contributing at this point. So drafting a guy might be the best remaining option. The problem with drafting a WR is you hate to see Brown force you away from taking what you really need at 23, which is an outside corner or an edge. But here we are. The hope is the Eagles can make it work with A.J., and maybe once the new offensive coordinator sits down with him and assures him he’s going to be a focal point of the offense he’ll warm up to the idea of staying with the team where he’s had his best seasons. But it sure seems like things aren’t heading that way.

5. Cooper DeJean’s comments on locker clean out today that he wants to stay full-time in the slot were interesting. The notion that he could become a full-time outside corner and then you go find a slot, which presumably is easier to find than an elite outside corner, is an interesting one. But DeJean said he wants to stay in the slot, which raises the question, who’s CB2 opposite Quinyon Mitchell? I thought Adoree’ Jackson did enough good things the second half of the season that he should at least get a chance to compete for the job next summer. Kelee Ringo is out of chances. Same with Jakorian Bennett. Yikes. If you draft a corner in the first couple rounds, he’s your guy. If not, competition between Jackson, a veteran or two and a mid-round corner is the best way to go. 

6. Over the 1997 and 1998 seasons, the Eagles went 9-22-1 with one of the worst passing games in the league. Their QBs threw more interceptions (34) than touchdowns (29) and their composite 68.6 passer rating during that span was 3rd-worst in the league. Their four quarterbacks all had losing records: Bobby Hoying (3-9), Ty Detmer (2-5), Koy Detmer (1-4) and Rodney Peete (3-4). It was a disaster. And who was the quarterbacks coach? Future Hall of Famer Sean Payton. This was Payton’s first NFL job, and he went on to work for the Giants and Cowboys before settling in as the Saints’ head coach and for the last few years the Broncos’ head coach. He’s got his work cut out for him today with Jarrett Stidham making his fifth career start in the AFC Championship Game. If he can get to a Super Bowl with a 29-year-old quarterback with one career win he really is a genius. No matter what happened here in the late 1990s.

7. The Eagles have already lost outstanding young secondary coach Christian Parker to the Cowboys, who hired him as defensive coordinator, and they’re now in danger of losing highly regarded interior line coach Clint Hurtt, who interviewed for the Dolphins defensive coordinator spot, and assistant linebackers coach Ronnell Williams, who interviewed for a spot on Parker’s Cowboys spot. It’s bad enough to lose top coaches but when one and maybe two are headed for your biggest rival, that hurts. Vic Fangio is a genius, but he’ll be the first to tell you he leans heavily on his assistants, and his staff had a huge role in the success his defense has had the last two years. These will not be easy guys to replace. 

8. Tell me if you see a pattern here: The Eagles led the Broncos 17-3 going into the fourth quarter and lost 21-17. They led the Cowboys 21-14 going into the fourth quarter and lost 24-21. They led Washington 17-10 and lost 24-17. And they led the 49ers 16-10 and lost 23-19. Four games they led by six or more points going into the fourth quarter and lost, and that’s something that according to the Stathead database, no other NFL team has ever done. The rest of the NFL was 92-7 when leading by six going into the fourth quarter. The Eagles were 5-4. When they led by six going into the fourth quarter, there was a 56 percent chance they were going to win. The rest of the league had a 93 percent chance. Un-freaking-believable.

9. Why did the Eagles’ offense regress as the season went along? One big reason is that the big plays down the field dried up. Jalen Hurts had 26 completions of at least 20 yards through nine games, then he had just 14 his last eight games. Through the Packers game, Hurts ranked 12th in yards per attempt and 14th in yards per completion. Over his last eight starts, he ranked 21st in yards per attempt and 19th in yards per completion. We kept waiting for things to get better, and they only got worse. By the end of the season, this offense had zero firepower.

10. One of the iconic defensive plays of the Eagles’ 1995 playoff season was defensive tackle Kevin Johnson’s 37-yard fumble recovery return for a touchdown in a 20-9 win over the Rams at the Vet. William Fuller sacked Rams quarterback Chris Miller and Johnson recovered and his 37-yard return remains 3rd-longest ever for a TD by an Eagles defensive tackle behind Mike Patterson’s 98-yarder against the 49ers at Candlestick in 2006 and Jalen Carter’s 42-yarder against the Cowboys in a loss at AT&T Stadium in 2023. Johnson was very good that year, with six sacks in 11 games in his first NFL season. Johnson died last week in Los Angeles and authorities are investigating his death as a homicide. Johnson had been living in a homeless encampment and his friends told Channel 7 in L..A that he was suffering from CTE. A terrible tragedy for a gentle giant who had a small but significant place in Eagles history. Peace to his friends and family.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/roobs-random-observations-some-coaching-candidates-offensive-coordinator/709223/

Joe Brady is the only one I'd consider for OC from that list. The rest........ewwww.