You wanted Steve Spagnuolo to return to the Eagles, and head coach Andy Reid did too.
In his first press conference of the off-season, Reid revealed he offered Spagnuolo a position on the coaching staff. Spagnuolo instead accepted the Saints' offer to become their defensive coordinator.
Had Spagnuolo chosen to return to the Eagleshe previously served as Reids assistant from 1999-2006Juan Castillo would have remained on the staffbut Reid wouldn't specify whether Castillo would have remained defensive coordinator.
If you can have two great coaches on defense, thats even better than having one," Reid said. Thats about as far as it went there. We didnt talk about titles. We didnt go into any of that.He ended up going to New Orleans.
Reid's offer wasn't just a courtesy either.
Thats how I felt. He knew that. I talked to him about that," he said. "I didnt just say this was the doormat, come lay on it. Thats not what it was. I invited him back.
Juan was going to be there and as you know in this league, titles are thrown all over the place, and my feeling was with Spags, both those two together, I thought could be dynamite.
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He loved the situation at New Orleans and Im happy for him. Were still friends, until we play them next year, and I wish him the best.
Castillo said he would have welcomed Spagnuolo back.
"Steves a great coach," Castillo said. "I mean, hes won a Super Bowl (as the Giants' defensive coordinator). Why not, right?"
Once Spagnuolo declined to return, Reid continued searching for someone to support Castillo and settled on Todd Bowles. Reid hopes the two can devise the defense in the same manner that he and coordinator Marty Mornhinweg handle the offense.
"I wanted to make sure that I brought somebody in," Reid said. "I felt this way going through the process that just as Marty and I have an opportunity to bounce things off of offensively that Juan has somebody with some experience to bounce things off of defensively. They ran somewhat the same scheme and thats where Steve fit in nicely, and it also fits in nice with Todd."
Bowles spent the last four seasons as the Dolphins assistant head coachsecondary coach. Bowles took over as Miami's interim after Tony Sparano was fired with three games remaining in the season. Bowles was not retained when the Dolphins hired Joe Philbin as their new head coach.
Hes a sharp guy, Reid said. Juan and I were able to put him through an interview process and he did a nice job with that. The recommendations from guys like Bill Parcells, the people that hes worked with are phenomenalthe Sparanos, the Mike Nolansthey carry this guy at such a high level. And listen, I havent worked with him, so I was curious, like anybody else was, bringing him in here. I heard such great things, and he came in here and did a nice job.
As a player, Bowles was a defensive back for Temple, the Washington Redskins and the San Francisco 49ers. As a coach, he has been a defensive assistant at Grambling State (1998-99) and Morehouse College (1997) and in the NFL since 2000 (with the Jets, Browns, Cowboys and Dolphins).
Before being named defensive coordinator last year, Castillo spent the previous 16 seasons as an Eagles offensive assistant. He hadnt coached defense since 1989 at Kingsville High School in Texas.
Recipe for a power struggle? Reid isnt worried.
I dont fear that at all, Reid said. I know what kind of person Todd is and I also know how strong Juan is. Juan is a heck of a leader of men and players believe in him, as Todd did. In the coaching profession, if you talk to coaches that know the situation here, they can tell you theyve studied us, and teams have studied us, and they can tell you were pretty solid.
And I know the perception, I understand that, thats out there, and thats different within the coaching ranks. So Todd obviously has respect for the things were doing here, wants to be a part of it. Juans upbeat about it. I know how much players care about Juan and respect Juan. So I dont worry about that at all. Juan is the defensive coordinator.
For Reids sake, the tandem must drastically improve a defenseand a secondarythat didnt gel in time for the Eagles to make a highly-expected run to the Super Bowl. In his press conference earlier this month, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie derided the decision to make dramatic scheme changes in a truncated off-season.
Asked about Lurie's critique, Reid cited the "moving parts" on defense.
"From my standpoint, those end up being excuses for me to sit up here and say that," Reid said. "Its a different seat from what Jeffrey sits in. This is his football team."
Nowhere were the defense's problems more glaring than in Lurie's high-priced, star-studded secondary. Nnamdi Asomugha was mortal, Dominque Rodgers-Cromartie struggled while learning the slot, and holdover Asante Samuel had only three interceptions, his lowest total since 2005 (when he also had three).
We had some moving parts on the defensive side, and I understood that. I anticipated it would take some time to bring together. Then I saw progress, Reid said. I liked the schemes we were teaching them and I liked the way we went about executing them.
And he liked how the players responded.
You could tell that the players were all in, Reid said. Normally, if theres an issue and the coach doesnt know what hes talking about, the players will normally voice that opinion. The players were all in and they believed in Juan and the scheme he was doing. I think it ended up working the way we had hoped it would work a little bit earlier, and it didnt.
E-mail Andy Schwartz at aschwartz@comcastsportsnet.com