Reports: Eagles to interview Patriots offensive coordinator, request to interview Chiefs offensive coordinator

PHILADELPHIA — The Eagles added two more names to their growing list of candidates to replace Doug Pederson as their coach, according to reports.

The Eagles requested and received permission to interview Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, The Athletic reported Saturday, while the team also requested permission to interview Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, NFL Media reported Saturday.

McDaniels, 44, is set to interview with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie in Florida on Sunday, and he has already begun recruiting a potential staff, The Athletic reported.

McDaniels has spent the majority of his coaching career working for Bill Belichick in New England. Belichick proteges have historically had limited success in head coaching gigs. McDaniels joined the Patriots in 2001 as a personnel assistant, and he became the team’s offensive coordinator in 2006.

McDaniels left the Patriots to become the Broncos coach at age 33 in 2009, but he was fired 12 games into the 2010 season with an 11-17 record. He was the Rams offensive coordinator in 2011, but he returned to New England in 2012.

The 2020 Patriots offense was poor following the departure of quarterback Tom Brady to the Buccaneers.

Interestingly, McDaniels was name dropped by Lurie during his news conference after he fired Pederson.

“We didn’t know we were going to lose Frank Reich, but suddenly it happened when Josh turned that job down and set off a whole — so you have to be aware,” Lurie said. “You have to always have your plan ahead that you can go forward with. There’s a lot of good candidates out there. We’ll think both inside the box, outside the box. I just want to say, there will be no rush here.”

Lurie was referencing three years ago when McDaniels backed out of the Colts job at the last minute, which sent Indianapolis scrambling. Ultimately, the Colts hired Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who is 28-20 with two playoff appearances in three seasons as the Indianapolis coach.

Given how difficult it can be to extricate his success from Brady, McDaniels might not necessarily be the most inspiring candidate, but it would be interesting to see how he handled his second chance at a head coaching job more than a decade after his first.

Bieniemy, 51, has been widely considered to be the top candidate in two straight cycles, but he was not hired last year and so far does not appear likely to get a job this year. But he has plenty of ties to the Eagles.

Bieniemy played for the Eagles in 1999 — incidentally, he was teammates with Pederson — and has been on Andy Reid’s coaching staff in Kansas City since 2013. He’s been the offensive coordinator — the same position Pederson held before getting hired by the Eagles — for the past three seasons.

While it can be difficult to evaluate someone coaching an offense that features stars like Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, Bieniemy is more highly regarded in that position than Pederson was when he was hired by the Eagles.

Bieniemy reportedly interviewed for the other six openings. The Eagles will be the seventh, but the ability to meet with Bieniemy in person will depend on how far the Chiefs advance in the playoffs.

Lurie said he’s willing to wait until February to hire a coach, if necessary.

Daniel Gallen covers the Philadelphia Eagles for PennLive. He can be reached at dgallen@pennlive.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Follow PennLive’s Philadelphia Eagles coverage on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.