Report: Doug Pederson Threatened to Quit Eagles Last Year for Request to Fire OC

The Philadelphia Eagles fired head coach Doug Pederson on Monday, though the seeds of that divorce may have been planted last offseason.

According to Jeff McLane of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, Pederson had a struggle with the front office and ownership over the direction of his coaching staff, which started last season when he was pressured to fire former offensive coordinator Mike Groh:

Pederson, 52, spent five seasons as the Eagles head coach, finishing 42-37-1 with three playoff appearances. He led the organization to its only Super Bowl title in the 2017 season. And he'll leave the team at a time of great unrest. 

The Eagles have an older roster with a number of players who have proven to be injury-prone in recent seasons. They have a quarterback in Carson Wentz who was arguably the worst regular starter at the position this season—his 15 interceptions and 50 sacks were both the worst marks in the NFL—and has a huge contract that makes him virtually uncuttable and extremely difficult to trade. 

It's likely that Pederson's firing means that Wentz will return to Philadelphia next season.

The Wentz situation is exacerbated by the fact that his backup, rookie Jalen Hurts, played well after Wentz was benched. And the organization's reputation was also maligned publicly after the team seemingly tanked in its last game of the season (despite the fact that a number of teams every season regularly rest starters late in the season for draft position or to keep them healthy for the playoffs). 

So there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the Eagles after 2020's disappointing 4-11-1 finish, which now extends to the coaching staff. The bigger looming question may be whether general manager Howie Roseman—who it would now appear has had serious power struggles with his last two head coaches after the Chip Kelly fiasco—deserves to be on the hot seat as well.

Roseman's roster maneuvering was crucial to that 2017 Super Bowl win, but his draft record has been extremely lackluster. There's an argument to be made that Roseman deserves a thorough evaluation by Jeffery Lurie as well.