Do the Eagles Know What the Hell They’re Doing?

The hiring of Juan Castillo as the Eagles new defensive coordinator has put me in a state of total confusion: I don’t know whether to dismiss it as a desperate reach, or laud it as an example of forward thought.

So I will try to analyze each piece of the Castillo puzzle, in hopes that, by the end of this blog, I will have a definite conclusion.

I can’t sit here and say that making Castillo the defensive coordinator is any worse than anybody else the Eagles could have hired at this particular time. I say this particular time because earlier, there were a couple of experienced defensive coordinators that the Birds passed on: namely Jim Mora Jr. and Dick Jauron, a former member of their own staff. The candidates bandied about in the last two weeks were just as much novices as Castillo: Dennis Allen, Darren Perry, Winston Moss, Jon Hoke, Joe Woods. They were all lower-level defensive assistant coaches who would also have been moving up a notch to the bigger role of defensive coordinator.[SIGNUP]

Castillo is by all accounts ones of the most influential coaches on the Eagles staff. The players apparently like him. He works hard at the game. He is an enthusiastic, task-master type who demands perfection and accountability from his guys. He DOES have a defensive background, having been a college linebacker and having coached defense in the first part of his coaching career.

But there are a couple of questions that cloud this issue for me:

1. If Castillo was so the no-brainer, right man for the job, why didn’t Andy Reid do that a few weeks ago, after he fired former defensive coordinator Sean McDermott?

2. If you’re just going to promote someone within your staff, then why not just keep McDermott and allow him another year to get better?

I’m left with this impression: do the Eagles under Reid and general manager Howie Roseman, and team president Joe Banner, and team owner Jeff Lurie, actually know what the hell they’re doing? The general impression from the fan base right now is that they have no idea. The hiring of Castillo is not anything resembling a master plan, it’s simply another throw of the dart and we’re going to have to wait painstakingly to see if it actually hit’s the board.

I would like to have seen the Eagles go outside the organization for this hire if only to get a different, dissident voice in this organization. Someone to tell these pompous asses that they haven’t exactly been doing things the right way, that they aren’t, after all, smarter than everyone else.

Maybe they did need someone to come in here from winning organizations like the Steelers or the Packers. Evidently, the coaches from those franchises are doing something right. Maybe if you bring one of them here, something will rub off.

In addition, there is something about Andy Reid’s logic here that is extremely flawed. Reid said that he needed to make sure that venerable offensive line coach Howard Mudd, would come out of retirement and accept the offensive line coaching job here before he actually promoted Castillo. Huh? Is Reid saying that the offensive line coaching position was more important than finding the right defensive coordinator? If Castillo was the right man for the job, if he was truly defensive coordinator material, then don’t you name him to that job and worry about your offensive line coach later? If you were willing to keep Castillo as the offensive line coach if Mudd didn’t come aboard, then how good of a defensive coordinator candidate is Castillo? It doesn’t make sense.

OK, I’ve written the blog.

Do I have a conclusion about whether it’s a good move or bad?

I conclude that I’m more confused than ever.