The Eagles announced on their website today that they’ve filled in the holes in their coaching staff. Linebackers coach Sean McDermott will move back to the secondary, and defensive quality coach Bill Shuey will be promoted to linebackers coach. Otis Smith will join McDermott as assistant secondary coach, and Mike Caldwell rounds out the defense as the new defensive quality control coach. Finally, Mark Whipple was added as offensive assistant coach.
I like these moves. In his previous stint as Safeties coach, McDermott coached Dawkins and Michael Lewis to Pro Bowls. He also helped Quinten Mikell have the strong year he did this year. I don’t know much about Shuey, but McDermott will still be around to help him. Otis Smith was a rookie free agent signing by the Eagles in the nineties. But it was on the Patriots where he became a favorite of coach Bill Belichek and won a Super Bowl ring in 2001. He’ll do a good job helping out the young cornerbacks. Mike Caldwell is another former Eagles, one that I also don’t know much about. Whipple is an intriguing hire. He was the Steelers QB coach from 2004-2006 and was responsible for the development of star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The combination of Andy Reid, Mark Whipple, and Pat Shurmur is impressive. It should be great for Kevin Kolb to have these three coaches, and a pro bowl quarterback in McNabb to learn from. I’m excited to see the results.
