Just How Good Of A Gig Is It?

There is a healthy debate going on right now about just how desirable of a gig the Eagles’ head coaching job is.

The answer is of great significance at the moment, given that the team will be in the market for a new head man very soon, and nearly a third of the league may have openings as well. There stands to be a good deal of competition for the top available talent (see: Chip Kelly).

“This is one of the great jobs in America, the head coach of the Eagles,” said Ron Jaworski on 97.5 The Fanatic. “It’s been a down year and last year an 8-8 season, but that doesn’t take any of the luster off being the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s one of the great cities in America. Everybody loves to be a coach in a large city — Philadelphia, New York, Chicago. I know for a fact that there are a lot of coaches that would like to coach the Eagles. There is a lot of glamour to that job.”

True, but there is also a lot of pressure. A league insider brought up in a conversation recently how difficult he believed it would be to follow Andy Reid, given the bar he set over 14 years of service. It made me think of Reid’s comments after firing Sean McDermott, when he talked about how difficult of a task it is to follow someone so successful like Jim Johnson in a city such as this.

There is also something to be said for the notion that the right candidate would shrug off such burdens and blaze a trail right out of Reid’s shadow. That he would love the way the city cares for its team and would want to ride the emotional roller coaster with them.

Surely such a coach exists, but it also shrinks the pool when you are talking about candidates that would be the right fit for this city, for this job.

Here are some other teams that could be in the market for a head coach this offseason:

San Diego
Carolina
Kansas City
New York Jets
Cleveland
Jacksonville
Buffalo
Arizona
Detroit 

Maybe you throw in Dallas, but that seems unlikely right now.

If you are looking for the “bright lights” feel, then only the Jets top the Eagles on this list. Philly also stacks up with just about anybody when it comes to personnel. I went through the roster with a trusted, longtime member of the Eagles media recently and we came away with 33 players on this team that you can make a solid argument for keeping. The same exercise on some of these other rosters would likely not generate better results.

The most important part of the roster, of course, is quarterback, and therein lies the Eagles’ biggest vulnerability. Even if you like Nick Foles as a prospect, Cam Newton and Phillip Rivers are the bigger draw for a head coach.

Reid will likely be taking one of these jobs (San Diego?), which will eliminate one team from competition with the Eagles. Maybe Carolina or New York are more attractive, but do they have as big of an edge over the Eagles as some are leading you to believe?

“It’s a tough job, we all know that, but people love to be in Philly,” said Jaworski. “At the end of the day, when you look at Philadelphia, if you’re a coach it’s pretty hard not to jump at that opportunity.”

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