Finally, a Defensive Coordinator: Bill Davis
The Philadelphia Daily News - Eagletarian
Finally, a Defensive Coordinator: Bill Davis
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
So, it turns out Chip Kelly wasn't waiting for the Super Bowl, national signing day, or the vernal equinox. He was waiting ... well, we have no idea why he was waiting. The Eagles' new defensive coordinator, a league source confirms, is former Browns linebackers coach Bill Davis, who has been available to be hired for weeks now, and in fact interviewed for the job two weeks ago.
The hiring was first reported by CSNPhilly.com's Geoff Mosher.
Davis was an Eagles ball boy in the Dick Vermeil years, when he was known as "Billy," and his father, Bill Davis, was a Vermeil assistant. The elder Bill Davis later ran Eagles player personnel in the Buddy Ryan era.
The younger Davis, 47, was the Cardinals' defensive coordinator in 2009 and 2010, the 49ers' coordinator in 2005 and 2006, without great results -- his teams finished 32nd, 26th, 20th, and 29th in NFL defense. But he also was not blessed with great talent.
Davis has great experience with the 3-4 setup Kelly is believed to prefer. He also has worked with 4-3 schemes and described his Arizona defense as a hybrid.
Now that he is hired, presumably we will get to meet the rest of Kelly's staff, some of whom have been working at NovaCare for several weeks. Kelly refused to confirm any hires until his staff was complete.
Fans will note that the Eagles now have hired, unofficially, as their offensive and defensive coordinators, two guys from the 2012 Browns, in Pat Shurmur and Davis. Shurmur was the head coach of the 5-11 Browns, one of four teams to actually lose to the Eagles last season.
But when Kelly was hired, everyone made a big deal of how important it would be for a college coach with no NFL experience to hire NFL guys as coordinators, and Kelly seems to have done that. Both coordinators have Eagles roots, as well, with Shurmur having been Donovan McNabb's QB coach.
wtf? a re-tread whose teams finished 32nd, 26th, 20th, and 29th in NFL defense? this is what chip was waiting so long to land???? SF had a talented defense when he was there and he did a subpar job. this is ridiculous— mold1103- Bunch of Jabroni's... They could have hired Vince Lombardi as HC and Bill Walsh and Belicheck as the coordinators and everyone would complain. Just wait to see what the guy does on the field at least!
Anyone and anything is better after the last couple years. I'm excited for the new direction and fresh start.
Almost all the guys he hired are young, up and comers that should bring good energy to the team.— cdedrick05 - Davis was avaialable 2 weeks ago so The Eagles got rejected by the DC at GA or the defensive coaches from SF or the Ravens however they will tell us Davis was their first choice . Kellys staff not impressive .— Dom8
- This must be the best they could do. I guess the more desirable candidates didn't want to risk failure on their resume, considering the lack of talent and many holes to fill on the Eagles defense.— jerseyshorefan
- I don't get it. Davis hasn't been successful in any of the defenses he's coached. The excuse is that he didn't have much talent to work with? Well guess what, the Eagles' defense doesn't have much talent either.— p-diddy
- ugh.— bloodymess
- Look at his record as a D Coordinator. YIKES— Nezhy
- I will put this into my "who cares" file. You people take this way too seriously. If you don't like it bet against them in every game next season and reap the rewards.— Russ
- It's amazing to me that with all the "experts" in this town, none of you have been approached by any teams about a coaching job.— maurysline
- Bring back Juan Castillo !!— EmanuelP
- It's amusing to see the negative comments. Flashback to '99: people weren't too thrilled when Andy hired JJ after not doing so well as a DC in Indy. Stats are nice to reference when judging someone but the circumstances surrounding those results are more important.....people tend to conveniently overlook the details behind statistical success or failure. Cleveland had a decent to good defense last year with lacking talent. Hopefully Davis can maximize the players he has in Philly come opening day.— GenTheGod
- This will be an interesting season. Kelly hasn't impressed with his hires, but maybe he has a vision. It is conceivable that others turned them down and we got stuck with these guys. I'm open to giving them a chance, but really as an Eagles fan, what choice do I have? We got who we got. That goes for on the field, too.— ericthered1
- The sky is falling, the sky is falling...the Browns were a better team last year than the Eagles and both Shurmer and Davis are upgrades over Marty and that idiot Todd Bowles. But hey, let the rain fall on you all so that you have hate to fuel you until Cole Hamels goes on the DL in May.— BirdinParadise
- I know this is going to sound crazy, but lets give this guy the benefit of the doubt before blasting him. Yes, his rankings aren't that great, but come on, wait to see the product on the field.
- How many of you idiots are going to site that Davis was available 2 weeks ago? What was he going to accomplish here over the last 2 weeks? I'm glad they took the extra time to make sure they knew they were getting the right guy. Now we'll see if they were right or not..— FetchDixon
