Ranking Eagles’ 6 best offensive coordinator candidates to help Jalen Hurts, from Kliff Kingsbury to Mike McDaniel originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Philadelphia Eagles have an obvious big fix to make after their offensively challenged 23-19 home upset loss to an injury-riddled 49ers defense in Sunday’s NFC wild-card playoff game.
The Eagles had a rough season after losing Super Bowl-winning offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. There’s no doubt that despite Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley having their share of individual struggles, the scapegoat will be Moore’s inadequate play-calling replacement, Kevin Patullo.
Although coach Nick Sirianni has input on the scheme, he needs to find a Moore type to get the most out of his quarterback, high-paid wide receivers and superstar running back. A telltale sign of the Eagles’ struggles was the fact they had to be so dependent on tight end Dallas Goedert, who scored two more times on the 49ers after his 11 TDs in the regular season.
MORE: Dallas Goedert stars with two TDs for Philadelphia vs. 49ers
Presuming the axe will fall on Patullo because the players can’t be fired and Sirianni won’t be, here’s who the Eagles can hire to get them back on track on offense after their short-lived attempt to repeat:
Ranking Eagles six best new offensive coordinator candidates
1. Kliff Kingsbury, former Commanders offensive coordinator
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Kingsbury is an ace with mobile QBs, including Kyler Murray and Hurts’ young division rival counterpart Jayden Daniels, whom Hurts outdueled in last year’s NFC championship game.
2. Mike McDaniel, former Dolphins head coach
Before McDaniel had his short heyday with Tua Tagovailoa, Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle and the Dolphins‘ running game that got them into the playoffs with some explosive groups, he was a smart assistant under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco. He would be a great influence on the wide receivers and Barkley to get them all in sync as elite weapons for Hurts.
MORE:What’s next for Mike McDaniel?
Tommy Gilligan
3. Todd Monken, former Ravens offensive coordinator
The Ravens dismissed John Harbaugh, giving Monken a chance to elsewhere after coaching Lamar Jackson to his second MVP award just two seasons ago. He can fit well to right the Eagles’ offense with Barkley (a la Derrick Henry) and also bring out some better passing and running from Hurts.
4. Nathan Scheelhaase, Rams passing game coordinator
Scheelhaase has some head-coaching material but he’s still young at 35 and needs to get a big opportunity to call plays with talented attack. The latest Sean McVay protege a level under Mike LaFleur would be a great rising star get for Philadelphia.
5. Zac Robinson, former Falcons offensive coordinator
Robinson was with the Rams before making his move to Atlanta to help Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts mesh with the quarterback combination of Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr. He is available now that Atlanta decided to move on from his boss, Raheem Morris.
6. Mike Kafka, former Giants interim head coach
Before Kafka became a rising star as a Chiefs‘ offensive assistant under Andy Reid, he once was a backup quarterback for the Eagles. He did well calling plays for Jaxson Dart once Brian Daboll was gone in New York, using Dart’s running skills well but also opening up the downfield and intermediate passing game despite not having a healthy Malik Nabers. He would be a QB-to-QB influence for Hurts, much like Moore was as a former player.
