Doug Pederson: Our Up and Coming Offensive Coordinator

Let me preface this article by saying I am a fan of the hire. When I first heard the rumor, I thought here we go again. I am generally not a fan of a coach bringing in his assistants from the place he was just fired. In this case, my feelings differ. Obviously, Doug Pederson is not a proven commodity. If say, Romeo were still the HC, I would hate this hire with a passion. Seeing as how we have an offensive minded coach that will be calling his own plays, this hire is more about what the offensive coordinator can do off the field. With his extensive background as a player, and some lower level coaching experience, I think that Doug can bring a lot to the table from a game-planning and adjustment stand point. If Brad Childress is hired like it’s been rumored, I think that Pederson will assume more of an “offensive assistant” than a typical offensive coordinator.

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Doug Pederson has a very far-reaching background. When he graduated high school in Ferndale, Washington, he was an all-state selection in football, baseball, and basketball. In other words, he was quite the athlete at that level. He had a weak college career and was undrafted coming out of Northeast Louisiana University. He signed with the Dolphins in 1991, but never saw any playing time. His best year as a player was in 1999 for the Philadelphia Eagles. Ironically, Andy Reid was the coach during this time period and made do with a below average quarterback. By no means did he have any good years as a QB. He was more of a journeyman signal caller, which in my eyes, can be very beneficial when moving to the ranks of coaching.

Even though Pederson wasn’t on the field much, he was always a back-up quarterback so he was constantly listening over the headset. Doug spent a large part of his career backing up one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game, Brett Favre. Learning the game from a future hall of fame quarterback is something that not many people in the league can claim. I think this helped him a lot in knowing what kind of attributes are extremely important for a quarterback and what kind of preparation it takes to be one of the best. To me, this is what makes this hire exciting.

After he retired from the NFL, he took a head coaching job in Louisiana for a Christian High School. He coached there for four years and had a 33-7 record including reaching the state playoffs each year. It is from there that Andy Reid gave him a chance and he began his journey, as a coach, in the National Football League. He was given the title of Offensive Quality Control Coach when he was hired in early 2009. In 2011, Coach Reid decided to replace James Urban with Doug Pederson as the team’s quarterback coach. It is hard to evaluate any of the stats for the Eagles over the past two years. The team was in such shambles from the bad coaching hires to the many different ego’s on the team.  Some have credited Pederson with the development of Nick Foles, but the young quarterback has yet to really impress me.

To me, this hire just puts the icing on the cake that the offense won’t have many changes. I would still like to see Brad Childress enter the regime as some kind of offensive assistant. I think he would be the perfect person to keep coach Reid grounded. It is also nice to know that our OC has actually played QB in this system. Doug Pederson is not a savior or proven coach by any stretch of the imagination, but I think he is a valuable addition to this coaching staff. I believe he possesses the knowledge to do his part to elevate this team from the basement dweller we have become in the AFC West. With Andy Reid as the captain of this ship and his history of developing coaches, the sky is the limit for Doug Pederson.