For the second time in three years, the Philadelphia Eagles made a run to the Super Bowl and have since lost their offensive coordinator to a head-coaching position elsewhere.
Last time around, the Eagles replaced the departed Shane Steichen (now the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts) with then-quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson. Things didn’t work out so well on that front, and the Eagles and Johnson parted ways after only one season.
The man who replaced Johnson was Kellen Moore, who is also departing after only one season — but for a better reason: He’s taken the job as head coach of the New Orleans Saints. The Eagles are still working their way through the process of finding Moore’s replacement, but some members of the offense already know what traits they’re looking for in that coach.
“He’s able to listen and put his ego aside,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said of Moore, via NJ.com. “Kellen did that for us by just giving us a space to say whatever we wanted about a play and problem-solve together. That was a big part of this year. Whether it was the receivers going to him or the O-line talking to him about run plays and just asking the ‘why’ about it, there was never any animosity or belittling. He coached us to make sure we understood it and asked us for any recommendations for run plays, and he always gave us the time and space.”
Mailata’s offensive line-mate, right tackle Lane Johnson, echoed a similar sentiment, while also bringing up some of the schematic things that Moore brought to the table.
“I think communication is obviously big between the OC and the players,” Johnson said. “I think Kellen did a good job of creating a lot of different fronts, creating confusion and still learning to be dynamic and learn the players. He also kept it simple while it was still complex-looking to the defense, so those traits are important.”
The most important player on the offense, obviously, is always the quarterback, and Jalen Hurts also alluded to the communication aspect between the coach and his players.
“I think the most important thing as you move forward is about trying to build that chemistry,” Hurts said. “I think for us as an offense, the more assertive I became throughout the year, the more in sync and the more rhythm we had. There’s been a lot of changes and a lot of different things, and I know every coordinator has their own approach and their own way of seeing it, but it’s just about meshing that.”
Whomever steps into the role, the Eagles have enough talent to remain a great offense. Whether they can recapture the entirety of this past year’s success will depend on a number of factors, and how the new OC communicates with and incorporates the ideas of the players that make up the offense will be one of them.
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