Doug Pederson hired John DeFilippo as quarterback coach after the 2015 season. Eagles owner Jeff Lurie made sure DeFilippo stayed here after the 2016 season.
NFL teams have the option to block assistant coaches who are under contract from interviewing with other teams unless they're interviewing for a head coaching job.
And when the Jets contacted the Eagles this past offseason looking to interview DeFilippo for their offensive coordinator vacancy after Chan Gailey retired, Lurie said no.
DeFilippo spent 2009 with the Jets as quarterbacks coach under Rex Ryan.
On Monday morning, the Eagles made all their position coaches available for interviews, and DeFilippo spoke for the first time about the lost opportunity.
“I had a great conversation with Coach Pederson about that when that was going down," he said in an interview with reporters in the Eagles' indoor practice bubble.
“Coach Pederson and I had an absolutely fantastic talk, and he came to me and said how important he thinks my role is here with the Philadelphia Eagles and I thanked him for that, I thanked him for that.
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"I’ve been on both sides of that coin. I’ve been told to get out of the building at some places I’ve been when staffs have gotten let go. But I’ll tell you, when the coach and the general manager tell you how much they value you and the work you’ve done, it’s an honor."
The Jets ended up hiring John Morton as their offensive coordinator, and DeFilippo -- who was widely praised for his work last year with rookie quarterback Carson Wentz -- is about to begin his second year with the Eagles.
If he's bitter at all about being denied the chance at a promotion, it doesn't show.
"I’ve wanted to coach in this organization for a long, long time, having been from Philadelphia," said DeFilippo, who grew up in Radnor.
"Here’s my take on the whole thing. My goal this year is to be the best quarterbacks coach in the National Football League, improve our guys as much as I can, and then usually things have a way of taking care of themselves."
DeFilippo, 39, began his coaching career at Fordham in 2000 and has also had stints with Notre Dame, Columbia and San Jose State and in the NFL with the Giants, Raiders, Jets and Browns.
He was the Browns' offensive coordinator in 2015 under head coach Mike Pettine, a Doylestown native, and he made it clear he'd like to be a coordinator again.
“You never say never to anything," he said. "I’ve done the job before. Obviously in Cleveland we didn’t win enough games, but offensively we were the first (Browns) team since 1986 to throw for (4,100) yards and rush for 1,500 yards, so I think that the year I was there, we did some decent things on paper.
"So we all have goals, but like I said my goal this year is to be the best quarterback coach in the league."