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Was Doug Pederson fired from his job as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles? Or did he simply walk away from a bad situation following an internal power struggle? There was never a definitive answer given on the matter as various theories have raged since Pederson’s controversial exit on Jan. 11.
Finally, there appears to be some clarity on what happened. Pederson broached the subject during an interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio where he seemed to indicate he was indeed fired by Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie. The 53-year-old unemployed coach said it was “unfortunate” that he didn’t earn a chance to get things back on track in Philly. He thought he had at least one more year to fix it.
“No one person is to blame for any of what happened last year,” Pederson said. “It was just unfortunate for me because I was hoping to really have an opportunity to fix the issues that we had and kind of get everything back on track whether it was going to be this year or the next year. And, obviously, that didn’t happen. And so I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the ifs, ands, and buts. I just focus on the future and look forward to that.”
Pederson once again put it out there that he hopes to put the head-coaching visor back on in the near future. He is only four years removed from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy after all.
“Obviously my goal and my hiring in 2016 was to hopefully bring a championship to Philadelphia and we accomplished that in our second year there and looking back on my time there are a lot of positives that I take from it,” Pederson said. “But I’m not going to dwell too much on the past. I’m going to learn from it, obviously, and hopefully, if I get an opportunity to move forward and coach again which I hope I can do I’ll take the good with me.”
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Pederson Reflects on Jalen Hurts vs. Carson Wentz
The other topic Pederson delved into on SiriusXM NFL Radio was the decision to draft Jalen Hurts. The former NFL quarterback revealed that he always looks for guys he can mold into competitive backups so taking Hurts in the second round was akin to taking out an insurance policy. He cited winning a Super Bowl in 2018 with a backup quarterback, a guy named Nick Foles.
“We won a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback and we’ve had to play with our backup a couple of times in Philadelphia so we did that a year ago with Jalen Hurts,” Pederson said. “And not to undermine Carson Wentz, not to do anything to take away his job or anything. Carson was definitely our starter. He was the franchise and all that moving forward, but someone who could come in and be the backup, and learn how to play the NFL game, bring his talent to the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Unfortunately, the injuries kept piling up and so did the losses during that dreadful 2020 campaign. That’s when he decided to light a spark.
“And then really, just as the season began, things started to just, I guess, spiral out of control,” Pederson said. “Injuries began to set in. We weren’t playing very well. Turnovers, offensively just a number of things, penalties, more injuries compounded problems … it just became harder and harder as the year wore on.”
Different ‘Collective Vision’ Led to Ouster
Lurie had talked about not sharing the same “collective vision” as Pederson when he first announced Pederson’s ouster. He never mentioned the word “fire” but the implication was that the organization had decided to move in another direction.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that it came down to Lurie being “underwhelmed” with the coaching changes that Pederson was seeking to implement. He was looking to band-aid the franchise back to Super Bowl glory over transitioning into a rebuild. That got Pederson his walking papers.
“The difference in vision is much more about where we’re at as a franchise. We’re at a transition point,” Lurie said. “We’ve got to get younger. We’ve got to have a lot more volume of draft picks. We’ve got to accumulate as much talent as we possibly can with a focus on the mid-term and the long-term and not on how to maximize 2021. I know where we’re at.
“Doug also knows where we’re at. It’s almost not fair to Doug because his vision has to be what can I do to fix this right away and what coaches can I have to help me get to a smoother 2021. My vision is much more about how can we get back to the success we’ve had and what we’re used to in the next 2-3-4-5 years.”
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