With the search for the Eagles coach on Day 11, it appears that two of the top candidates for the job are Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Eagles running backs / assistant coach Duce Staley.
It is a decision that Jeff Lurie will not take lightly and, if it goes to Staley or McDaniels, he will have very different candidates.
Former NFL running back LeGarrette Blount, having played with both coaches, is the only one qualified to give his opinion and he had his chance on Tuesday afternoon at 94WIP.
Blount, 34, played under McDaniels from 2014-16 and won two Super Bowls with McDaniels as his offensive coordinator.
“I loved playing for Josh,” said Blount. “Josh is an incredible offensive coordinator and game planner on the offensive side.”
Of course, there are big doubts and concerns about McDaniels, who failed as a Broncos coach a decade ago. At that time, he was a very young coach and also received personal control. He did something that several other New England assistants tried to do when they took on technical jobs elsewhere: he tried to be Bill Belichick.
So Blount has some of the same doubts and concerns about McDaniels that many fans have.
“I think the issue is the approach,” Blount told WIP. “You have a lot of guys who come from New England who try to bring the New England look to a different team and then you don’t have the same type of players. Bill knows how to get players who fit in and fit in if he wants to or if he needs them too. And I think that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
“And I don’t know how Josh would approach the head coach’s situation, whether he would like to bring that up or whether he would put his own touch on it as (Brian) Flores with Miami. You never know the ideas and what they will bring. “
If it’s worth it, McDaniels has said publicly several times that he learned from his first experience as a head coach. But in 2018, he also rejected the Colts, who hired him as head coach before he gave up.
In the meantime, it would be difficult to find someone who speaks ill of Staley, who has been the coach of the Eagles’ running backs since 2013. Blount has only spent one season in Philadelphia, but it was magic that ended in parade.
“Duce is incredible,” said Blount. “I think Duce is an incredible candidate. I think Duce will be a great leader for this team. “
One of the masterstrokes of Staley’s time as an Eagles running back trainer came in 2017, when he was able to keep the running back room selfless with two legitimate holders, Blount and Jay Ajayi, who arrived in the middle of the season.
It is Duce’s ability to bond with players that makes Blount think his former coach would be a good coach.
“I would like this hire,” said Blount. “I think everyone in this team and organization respects Duce to the utmost. They respect your opinion, they love you out there. He is a former player, he can relate to every person and any type of person in that locker room and that building.
“I just think that Duce, and it’s just me being there for a year, I can imagine what people think of him who has been with him a lot longer. That is just the impact he had on me that year. Obviously, I feel that I respect him a lot and I think he is an incredible person. “
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