City of Brotherly Love? An Inside Look Into Jim Schwartz’s Growing Influence
It has been an interesting offseason, to say the least, at least in terms of the roster transactions.
Despite the instant need for help at wide receiver and the lack of depth along the offensive line, Philadelphia has done close to nothing to address the offensive side of the ball.
To put this in perspective, the Philadelphia Eagles have signed or resigned five defensive backs, two interior defensive linemen, a linebacker, and a backup quarterback. Notice a trend? This could be due to the fact that Howie Roseman emphasized a need for the team to get younger at certain positions, particularly with the defense bleak of significant playmakers under the age of 26. Or this could be due to the growing influence of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
While it’s easy to just look past this and chalk it up as the team trying to improve on the defensive side of the ball.
I mean, Howie Roseman himself said, “Its hard when you’re watching games, and the ball is getting thrown over your head.”
See the concern starts to develop once you realize that Schwartz influences have grown to lengths beyond on the football field. Let’s start with the coaching staff; in January, the Eagles bought in Marquand Manuel as the defensive backs coach. During Manuel’s final year in the league as a player in 2009, he played under Jim Schwartz.
The Eagles also promoted Matt Burke from the special defensive assistant to the defensive line coach/run game coordinator. This despite Burke not having any prior experience working with the defensive line since his coaching career began in 1998. However, Burke was the linebackers coach under Schwartz, also during his time in Detroit (2009-2013).
Photo: Jeff Skversky/6 ABC
The Schwartz influence doesn’t stop there, though. Jeremiah Washburn, who joined the organization as an advanced projects coordinator in 2019. Washburn recently received a promotion to Director of Player Personnel/senior defensive assistant despite spending just one year with the organization. This could just be a case of Washburn making a notable impression on Howie Roseman and Jeffery Lurie. Or you could contribute it to the fact that Washburn also worked with Schwartz during his time in Detroit, serving as the offensive line coach. However, you choose to address it doesn’t change the fact that Washburn is now the second line of defense to Howie Roseman, behind Andy Weidl, who was promoted after the departure of Joe Douglas back in June 2019.
Then the was the strange issued apology by Doug Pederson after the “unfortunate” use of words during the end of the year pre-conference. A statement the team would like to classify as misuse in the judgment of words on Coach Pederson’s behave. But could there be more behind this sequence of events? See this all dates back to when initial hirings of Doug Pederson and Jim Schwartz back in 2016.
So remember that statement from Michael Lombardi prior to the start of the 2017 season? You know, the one where he said: “He [Doug Pederson] might be less qualified to coach a team than anyone I’ve seen in my 30+ years in the NFL.”
Well, since then, the Eagles have gone on to make the playoffs three consecutive years under Pederson’s control, including a Super Bowl in 2017.
So obviously Lombardi was incorrect in his theory, hints the reason he backtracked on the statement after the 2017 Divisional round victory against Atlanta. “Doug Pederson was a lot better than I thought he was going to be in terms of his ability to lead the team. All you Philly fans give me this crap about ‘Give Doug Pederson his due.’ Okay, I was wrong.” While Lombardi did admit to being wrong about his opinion, it’s fair to ask was there more being his basis.
Let us not forget that Jim Schwartz was given his first opportunity in the NFL as a college/pro scout by Lombardi during his stint as the general manager of the Cleveland Browns.
“When I was in Cleveland, I hired Jim Schwartz… He’s an outstanding football coach… I have nothing but respect for him, and I think the Eagles’ success last year was their defense.”
Photo: Michael Bryant/The Inquirer
Whether you choose to believe there is some type of power struggle brewing between Pederson and Schwartz or not, usually where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
“He walks around the building like he’s the head coach.”
Said an unnamed Eagles player back in 2017, and why wouldn’t he? From the time Schwartz arrived in Philadelphia in 2016, his defenses have ranked among the top ten in rushing defense (1st–93.4 ypg), red zone defense (2nd–49.5 ypg), third-down defense (3rd–35.4%), scoring defense (7th–20.8 ppg), and takeaways (9th–94). It is widely known that Jim Schwartz wants to be a head coach again in this league, hints the reason he jumped at the Browns head coaching availability this offseason.
Does that mean he’s willing to take Doug Pederson down in the process?
Well, if you ask Schwartz, the media just doesn’t understand the relationship between him and Pederson.
“What I do here is, I work extremely hard to execute the defense the way he [Doug Pederson] has outlined it for me. And I’m very comfortable with that. And not everybody is privy to those instructions. So if anybody misunderstands or misinterprets any actions, just know this: Coach Pederson is aware of everything that I do inside this building and outside of it. And maybe they’re not privy to it…” said Schwartz when asked about the topic back in 2017.
As for anyone who chooses to question Schwartz’s persona, he addressed that by saying, “Again, I just know the way Doug outlined the job to me. And it had nothing to do with anything but having my personality, and he embraced that… Look, I can be brash. Check. I can be in your face. Check. It’s the only way I know to coach defense. As long as coach Pederson is fine with it, I’m going to continue to that. And he is.”
With all that being said, Doug Pederson seems to have a legitimate sense of job security. Something you’d expect after he bought the first Super Bowl title in history to the city. The players embrace playing for him, and the entire city is firmly behind him.
This all could be something that is being blown out of proportion, or it could be the start of things to come in Philadelphia. Either way, this situation certainly is something to keep an eye on over the course of the future.
Schwartz is under contract for one more season in Philadelphia, and with his continued success, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Eagles decided to retain him as the defensive coordinator.
However, with a relationship with coach Pederson that can be viewed as questionable, what the Eagles decide to do next offseason could be very telling.
Featured Image: John Clark/NBCS Philly
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Categorized:Eagles