Doug Pederson is at the NFL's Scouting Combine in Indianapolis as Eagles look to ramp up the roster for 2020 via free agency and the NFL Draft in the weeks ahead. Before he left Philadelphia, Pederson joined the Eagles Insider Podcast presented by Lincoln Financial Group for an exclusive conversation about the construction of the coaching staff and more.
Here is a sample of what Pederson said. You can listen to the entire interview on the Eagles Insider Podcast here.
On the process of reconfiguring the coaching staff, Pederson said, "I wanted to spend (time) and do my due diligence with this next round of hires and felt like I did a really good job. Obviously, we'll see once we get back out on the football field, but I'm excited for the guys starting with Marquand Manuel (defensive backs coach) on defense. He's been a former coordinator with the Falcons. He kind of came out of that Seattle Seahawks mold, defensively, with some of those coaches there and also in Atlanta and places like that. I'm just excited for him and his growth.
"Matt Burke being promoted to run game coordinator and defensive line (coach), I think that's going to be a great addition there and just an opportunity for Matt to continue his career.
"Jeremiah Washburn, who's been here for a year, director of player personnel/senior defensive assistant, really not an on-the-field coach, more an analyst for Jim (Schwartz, defensive coordinator). Being a former offensive line guy, he also does a lot of work for Stout (offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland) and some of our breakdowns during the week on our opponents, so he's he's a valuable resource for us and added him to our staff there.
"I think the offensive side of the ball, Andrew Breiner (pass game analyst), who has been a former college head coach, I want him to analyze our passing offense. He can study our offense, he can study offenses around the league, he can study college offenses, and bring us some fresh ideas.
"Rich Scangarello is our senior offensive assistant. I was intrigued by his resume, where he's sort of come from, how he's worked himself up in this league. He was a coordinator last year in Denver. He's worked with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. He's worked with quarterbacks. He's been with Kyle in Atlanta. He started as a quality control coach just like myself. Very sharp, both these guys are sharp, bright minds, been around some really sharp football minds themselves.
"Press Taylor, who I've had on staff now for four years going on five who is going to be a passing game coordinator for me, but also stay in the quarterback room. I think it's important that we don't disrupt that room. I don't want to disrupt the quarterback room. I think Carson's (Wentz) in a great place right now. I want to keep Press that room, but I do want to give Press an opportunity to have more of his fingerprints on the game plan. Even though we're such a collaborative offense that way in gameplanning, this gives us an opportunity to have more hands in with gameplanning during the week."
"Aaron Moorehead is a former wide receiver in this league and he's our wide receivers coach. He came from Vanderbilt and was coaching wide receivers there. He's been around some of the (best). He's been around Peyton Manning in Indy. He's seen this league; he knows how to play in this league. He knows how to coach in this league. So, I'm really excited about him and what he's done not only in college, but also in his career as a player."
On the release of Nigel Bradham and if linebacker is a position of need for this team, Pederson said: "It's all about evaluation. It's all about, how we can construct our roster and we sometimes we have to make tough decisions. We've done this now the last four years, making these types of moves and these types of decisions. We thank Nigel obviously for what he did, he helped us win a championship a couple years ago. He's been a valuable player for us. I do feel really good about our young players. I thought T.J. Edwards made a big step forward last year, so we've got to look at that as well, but everything is in the best interests of the Philadelphia Eagles.
What is the biggest need on the roster? Pederson didn't say, specifically, but in general terms, everything. "I think we're going to add talent, honestly. We're going to add depth. You can look across the board. I mean, no position is immune. You hear the talk about, 'OK, we need receivers or, or we need, you know, offensive line.' Well, you know, we're going to try to do that anyway. And that's all that's all part of our process. But we're going to evaluate our roster currently, we're going to evaluate the free agent players, we're going to evaluate the draft and that whole process, and we're going to add depth, we're going to add talent where we need and move forward from there and, the bottom line is, we gotta win on Sunday."
There was a whole lot more from Pederson, which you can hear on the Eagles Insider Podcast. The Scouting Combine is upon us. Free agency is less than a month away. Things are about to happen in a hurry, and Pederson and the Eagles are ready to make the right changes to make the Eagles formidable in 2020.
