Eagles' hiring of Pederson the Reid option

IF THE Eagles truly are trying to recapture the tenure of former head coach Andy Reid with the reported imminent hiring of Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, why would that be a bad thing?

Count me among those who felt that Reid had run his course with the Eagles when he was fired after the 2012 season, but that doesn't negate the success he had with the Birds.

In 14 seasons in Philadelphia, Reid, who is now the coach in Kansas City, went 130-93-1 in the regular season, reached five NFC Championship Games and the February 2005 Super Bowl.

If Pederson, who was Reid's first starting quarterback for the Eagles in 1999, can come close to repeating what Reid did here, he will produce a five- or six-year window for the Birds to have a legitimate shot at that elusive Super Bowl title.

If Pederson works out and can eclipse Reid's success, he'll deliver that Super Bowl parade down Broad Street that Eagles fans have clamored for.

Again, I ask, why would that be a bad thing?

I get it that Pederson, who hasn't coached under anyone in the NFL but Reid, was not one of the big-name candidates on the head coaching market. Considering no other team even interviewed Pederson, it is fair to say that the Eagles are the only organization that considers him ready to be a head coach.

Still, assuming that Pederson is destined to fail has about as much merit as assuming that one of those other first-time coaches recently hired are automatically going to succeed.

What history shows us is that we simply don't know how someone is going to perform as an NFL head coach until he actually becomes an NFL head coach.

All the talk about the hot up-and-comer is just a topic of discussion; there is no guarantee of success.

We've seen the "guy everybody wants" fail and we've seen the guy nobody's heard of perform well.

When Reid was hired by the Eagles, Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Chris Palmer was considered the sexiest candidate in the field. Palmer was hired as the first head coach of the reborn Cleveland Browns. He lasted just two seasons, posting a 5-27 record.

Currently an offensive assistant with the Buffalo Bills, Palmer never got another shot at being a NFL head coach.

The Eagles chased the glamour boy in 2013 after they fired Reid. Chip Kelly posted a 26-21 record with an NFC East title, but he created an atmosphere so toxic at the NovaCare Complex that Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie made the out-of-character decision to fire him with a game remaining.

In contrast to Kelly having been the Miss Universe candidate on the open market, Pederson, who is about to turn 48, is the wallflower at the homecoming dance.

Then again, so was Reid in 1999.

Technically, Pederson, who has been the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs since Reid took over in 2013, actually has more on his resume than "Big Red" had when he was hired by Lurie.

Reid had never been a coordinator when Lurie took a flier on him.

As an NFL quarterback, Pederson backed up Hall of Famer Dan Marino and Hall of Famer-to-be Brett Favre.

In addition to Reid, he played for Hall of Fame coach Don Shula in Miami and was a member of the Green Bay Super Bowl champions coached by Mike Holmgren.

If Pederson sponges information the way Reid did as he was working his way up the ranks, then he has had some good football people from whom to gather insight.

Ultimately, this comes back to Lurie again placing faith in Reid, who reportedly advocated for Pederson to his former boss.

The knee-jerk reaction is to call that foolish, but Reid's coaching tree includes John Harbaugh, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, Ron Rivera, who just coached the Carolina Panthers to the best regular-season record in the NFL, and Todd Bowles, who coached the New York Jets to a 10-6 finish.

Brad Childress, Leslie Frazier, Steve Spagnuolo and Pat Shurmur are also Reid tree branches who got head-coaching opportunities.

There are many things that you can question about Reid and his football demeanor, but his integrity and loyalty to Lurie, despite being fired by him, are not two of them.

Reid understands Philadelphia and the Eagles' fan base well. He knows the hiring of Pederson will not be exactly welcomed with open arms. He understands the cauldron of fire both Pederson and Lurie are stepping into. Because of that, I cannot think of any possible scenario where Reid would have pushed Pederson to Lurie if he did not absolutely believe his disciple was ready to make this jump.

Reid simply would not intentionally set up Lurie or Pederson to become epic failures.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Reid and Lurie are correct about Pederson. He could end up being a huge flop.

Still, a lot of things being said about Pederson's imminent hiring sound similar to the things said when Reid was hired in 1999.

That worked out fairly well for Lurie, so it's not hard to understand why he walked a similar path to Pederson with hopes for the same.

Columns: ph.ly/Smallwood

On Twitter: @SmallTerp