Eagles to Name Doug Pederson Head Coach: Source

In his search to find the next Andy Reid, owner Jeff Lurie will hire Doug Pederson, a league source confirmed Thursday afternoon.

The news was first reported by the Philadelphia Daily News' Les Bowen.

The Eagles would not confirm the decision to hire Pederson but a team spokesman said the Eagles have concluded their search for a head coach and no further interviews are scheduled.

The Eagles cannot officially hire Pederson, Kansas City’s offensive coordinator, until the Chiefs are knocked out of the playoffs.

Pederson, Reid’s former quarterback and offensive coordinator, will be the 21st head coach of the Eagles, replacing Chip Kelly, who was hired Thursday by the 49ers.

Lurie fired Kelly on Dec. 29 after just 47 games and no playoff wins. Offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur coached the Eagles to a win over the Giants on the last day of the season.

In Pederson, Lurie fulfills his wish of finding a coach closely linked with Reid, the winningest coach in Eagles history. Not only did Pederson play for Reid, he’s also spent his entire NFL coaching career working under Reid either in Philadelphia or Kansas City.

Pederson, 47, has served most recently as offensive coordinator during Reid’s three seasons as head coach of the Chiefs.

Before that, he was Reid’s quarterbacks coach with the Eagles for two years after starting his NFL coaching career in 2009 as an offensive quality control coach under Reid.

Pederson’s only other coaching job was head coach at Calvary Baptist Academy, a high school in Shreveport, La., from 2005 through 2008.

Pederson spent 12 years in the NFL with the Dolphins, Packers, Eagles, Browns and the Packers for a second stint. He played under Don Shula, Reid and Mike Holmgren and backed up Dan Marino, Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb.

In 1999, Reid drafted McNabb with the second pick overall but didn’t feel McNabb was ready to start the season, so Pederson served in the dual role as quarterback and mentor to McNabb.

Pederson went 2-7 in nine starts in 1999 and was 3-14 in 17 career starts.

He becomes the first Eagles head coach who also played for the team since Marion Campbell, who played for the Eagles from 1956 through 1961, started on the 1960 NFL Championship team and was head coach from 1983 through 1985.


Pederson is also the first former NFL quarterback to serve as Eagles head coach.

Campbell and Kelly are the only Eagles head coaches in the last 40 years who failed to make it beyond their third season.

Lurie and his search committee, which also included team president Don Smolenski and vice president of football operations Howie Roseman, interviewed six candidates — all offensive coaches: Shurmur, Pederson, long-time Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, new Giants head coach Ben McAdoo, new Dolphins head coach Adam Gase and long-time Eagles running back and assistant coach Duce Staley.