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.
Was the kid working the counter at McDonalds busy?— NYPHILLYPHAN- If we can be as good as the Browns, that would be an improvement!— 4thand10
- LOL some of y'all did nothing but complain about andy.
now andy is gone and ya still complaining.
(my prediction: first day of the draft the same people will be complaining about the picks)— 1000hugs - WHO????— billtfla
- Everyone should ask why this coach, from a losing team that saw it's season end the same day as did the Eagles season, was hired today, on the 7th of November. A lot of time was lost evaluating the talent or lack of on this team.
The answer is, is that the coaches they coveted did not want to come here. And that says everything you need to now about Howie Roseman and Jeffrey Lurie. Same old same old....— DelawareRiverRat - How many people here wanted Castillo fired and replace by Todd Bowles last year? Me too. Show how much us fans really know because the defense got much worse after the change. Take a breath and relax, because you won't know a thing until they actually start playing, and based on the needs on this roster, they should all get a pass the first year.— mandcdad
- ****CORRECTION: 7th of February! Too much Nyquil!— DelawareRiverRat
- So far we have a pair of Cleveland retreads as coordinators, a 3-4 defense with no personnel, a gimmicky college offense with no QB and a coach named Chipper. I'd say the fairies in the front office are way ahead of schedule.— dasher
- Eagles are still clueless...looks like it was not Reid and Banner who are gone, but instead Jeffery Lurie and Howie who were the real idiots making these awful decisions.....the loser Vick is still here, the o-coordinator and d-coordinator are hired from the awful Browns..and little Chippy Kelly is hired to run his fantasy football gimmick offense....looks like another 2-14 Lurie gold standard next season...LOL.— jim35
- DI mean I know he is a college coach without NFL playing or Coaching experience but oes he have NO NFL contacts??!!— robinlupe
- Not thrilled with this selection. One has to wonder if this wait for a DC came down to NFL Coaches not being enamoured with our "Accountant" GM. That being said, for everybody ripping Cleveland, I do believe the Browns draft "after" the Eagles this year. Eagles 4 and 12, Browns 5 and 11! The Eagles Organization has got the Fans thinking the Team really is the Gold Standard! Birds excell in the Salary Cap (23 Million) maybe thats what Jeff was referring to. They are so far from any respectable standard, its laughable. Get rid of at least 35 no heart, untalented Players and start over!— cooperhawk
- Lets get realistic does anyone truly know in depth a solid coordinator the eagles could have hired. The browns actually had a solid defense last year. Lets not forget they forced 5 turnover versus the eagles. The last linebacker coach we hired turned out pretty good and his name was Jim Johnson. Plus all the defensive assistants have strong defensive experience which should make for an intelligent meetings during the week.— killamagilla
- Alarm bells should be going off? Hiring anyone from the Browns from the past 6 years is cause for concern..If we are going with re-treads they could have hired Emmett Thomas or Ray Rhoades for that matter. At least they are a known commodity.— nerfee42
- OK, won't know for sure until we get into a season but this sure looks and smells like more lunacy on the part of the BEAGLES. I've always thought a lot of the craziness is because of Lurie and this just reinforces that. First you keep Howie, then you hire a college guy with no NFL experience who runs an offense that isn't likely to work in the NFL as your head coach. Now you have to hope he's creative enough to actually come up with an offense that will work. He, in turn, goes out and hires a couple of guys from Cleveland who have no real success stories in their resumes? And all this to work with a group of guys who really don't have enough talent to be competitive? I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say we fans could be doomed to a season full of gadget plays because there's no hope you're going to consistently beat teams with talent. SIGH— ratterman
- It's a good idea to run the 3-4 and 4-3. No reason to run out of one basic front formation. Next year, I see the Eagles, personnel-wise as a 4-3 team that can throw in the 3-4 liberally. After that, it'd be good to transition to the 3-4, but never throw away the 4-3.— armchairGM
