Billy Davis Is a Bad Hire for the Philadelphia Eagles

If you read the article I wrote on new defensive coordinator Billy Davis yesterday, you know that I wasn't sold on the move from first glance. As a result, I wanted to take a deeper look at Davis and see what Eagles fans could expect from the new-look defense going forward.

Before we get into those numbers, however, here's a brief outline of Billy Davis' career thus far.

Year	Team	Position
1991	Michigan State	Graduate assistant
1992-1994	Pittsburgh Steelers	Defensive assistant
1995-1998	Carolina Panthers	OLB coach
1999	Cleveland Browns	Defensive assistant/LB
2000	Green Bay Packers	Defensive assistant/DL
2001-2003	Atlanta Falcons	LB coach
2004	New York Giants	LB coach
2005-2006	San Francisco 49ers	Defensive coordinator
2007-2008	Arizona Cardinals	LB coach
2009-2010	Arizona Cardinals	Defensive coordinator
2011-2013	Cleveland Browns	LB coach

The first thing of note is that the 47-year-old Davis has 23 years of experience and essentially all of it is in the NFL. Also, most of that experience is with linebackers, where the Eagles have struggled to find consistent play. Davis also had the benefit of working under Dom Capers, who currently runs Green Bay's defense, for a few seasons.

However, the bad news is that Davis has been a defensive coordinator twice before. His first run was with the 49ers in 2005-2006 and his second was with Arizona in 2009-2010. Neither of those terms were pretty.

Here's a look at Davis' defenses by the numbers, with LRK standing for "league rank":

	PTS/G	YDS/G	3rd Pct	Int	Fum Rec	LRK YPG	LRK PPG
2005	26.8	391.2	38%	16	10	32nd	29th
2006	25.8	344.2	44%	14	13	26th	32nd
2009	20.3	346.4	35%	21	8	20th	14th
2010	27.1	373.6	37%	17	13	29th	30th
Average	25	363.85	39%	17	11	27th	26th

Overall, Davis' numbers are bad and he should feel bad.

His run with the 49ers was awful. Granted, the team wasn't anything like the powerhouse they are today, but there's no excuse in the NFL for being the worst in any statistical category. He managed that two consecutive seasons in a row. Ouch.

In Arizona, Davis' first season wasn't that bad. With a solid foundation of Darnell Dockett, Karlos Dansby, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Antrel Rolle and Adrian Wilson, Davis managed a mediocre 2009 season in the desert. However, they plummeted into the basement the following year.

The only positives that Davis can hang on to is that his units regularly generated turnovers and were decent on third downs. Other than that, there's really not much to like. This is why I'm very concerned with the defense going forward.

Davis is bringing in the hybrid 3-4 system that Chip Kelly is keen on, which you can learn more about here. As a result, the players will have to learn a new scheme from a below-average coordinator that will be taught by a number of guys with limited to no NFL experience.

It's not exactly the recipe for "Shutoutability." In fact, it may just make the defense about as bad, if not worse than last year.

So, while I hope that Davis proves me wrong and gets his act together, I have very little confidence in him at this point. It feels like another dose of the Reid Conumdrum.