The Philadelphia Eagles are reportedly interviewing current USC Trojans offensive coordinator Graham Harrell for their opening at the same position.
Doug Pederson and Howie Roseman have been on a search since parting ways with Mike Groh after he served two seasons as the Birds offensive coordinator. Philadelphia has a long list of potential candidates, but I did not see Harrell as a possibility, so this comes as a little bit of a surprise.
Harrell does not have any NFL coaching experience, but he does have NFL playing experience. After playing his college career at Texas Tech playing under Mike Leach, he spent one year of his playing days in the Canadien Football League with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. When he finally came to the NFL, he played for the Green Bay Packers and the New York Jets, and after the Jets released him, he decided to hang up his cleats for good.
When Harrell decided to get into coaching, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy gave Harrell his first coaching job in Stillwater as an offensive quality control coach in 2009. After playing for a few years, Harrell reconnected with Mike Leach at Washington State for the 2014-2015 seasons as a wide receivers coach. For the 2016-2018 seasons, Harrell got his first offensive coordinator position at North Texas, and in 2019 he would serve his first significant offensive coordinator position at USC under head coach Clay Helton. He helped USC's offense reach new highs even with backup quarterbacks playing a majority of the season.
Personally, I would not be on board if Howie Roseman and Doug Pederson go through with this hire because of the lack of NFL coaching experience. It is nothing personal towards Graham Harrell, but this is Philadelphia, and most of all, the NFL, and we expect coaches that have NFL experience even just as a position coach. I think Howie Roseman needs to think long and very hard on this decision, and it is best to find a candidate that has NFL experience, and has had some sort of success while in the NFL.
