Now that the Philadelphia Eagles have filled out their coaching staff following the hiring of Doug Pederson to replace a fired Chip Kelly, we can now look forward to what this team's offense might look like moving forward.
In a series of multiple articles focusing on teams that have changed their head coaches, today's look is on a Philadelphia Eagles squad that disappointed a great deal in 2015.
Head Coach: Doug Pederson
Pederson acted as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator for the previous three seasons. Though, he wasn't directly responsible for calling plays. Instead, that role was picked up by head coach Andy Reid.
Pederson's offensive philosophy is much like that of Reid's, who he spent four seasons with in Philadelphia prior to joning Reid in Kansas City.
The Chiefs ran a variation of the West Coast Offense under Pederson, finishing in the top 10 of the NFL in rushing yards each of the three seasons he was the team's offensive coordinator. This past season's No. 10 finish was especially a surprise considering the fact that Jamaal Charles missed the final 11 games due to a torn ACL.
In terms of what Chiefs' offenses did from a passing standpoint, they were limited by Alex Smith's inability to throw the ball down the field. Kansas City finished in the bottom fourth of the NFL in passing yards in each of Pederson's three seasons with the team.
Relying on the short-to-intermediate passing game, Pederson-led offenses need a quarterback that boasts plus-level accuracy. With Sam Bradford set to become a free agent and Mark Sanchez acting as the only viable option under contract in Philadelphia, this position is up in the air.
As it relates to the running back, the hiring of Pederson could very well act as a boon for DeMarco Murray who struggled big time in Chip Kelly's offense last season. Murray could very well end up being worth a flyer in early-offseason redraft leagues.
Offensive Coordinator: Frank Reich
This is an intriguing situation. While Reich likely won't be calling a majority of the plays in Philadelphia like he did in San Diego the past two seasons, he will be in Pederson's ear during games. Mainly due to struggles in the rushing game with rookie running back Melvin Gordon, the Chargers were forced to go away from the run. This enabled Philip Rivers and the Chargers passing game to finish No. 2 in the NFL in passing.
That's more of an outlier than anything else. Based off Reich's offensive philosophy and what we saw from Pederson in Kansas City, there's little doubt that the Eagles offense will have more balance moving forward.
Overall Impact
Like we indicated above, DeMarco Murray stands the best chance of performing at a high level on the ground. Though, if he's retained, Darren Sproles could very well be a boon in PPR contests. Chargers running backs combined for 134 receptions this past regular season while Chiefs running backs put up a total of just 49 receptions.
Again, most of that had to due with the injury to Jamaal Charles, who tallied 110 receptions in Pederson's first two seasons as the team's offensive coordinator.
There isn't a whole bunch more to look at here. We really need to see what Philadelphia is going to do at the quarterback position before drawing any real conclusions. Only then will we be able to place some value on the likes of Jordan Matthews and Nelson Agholor.
What we can conclude here is that the recently extended Zach Ertz will play a large role in the passing game, no matter who is under center.
Both Pederson (Travis Kelce) and Reich (Antonio Gates and Ladarius Green) relied on tight ends in their schemes over the past couple seasons. We can safely predict that Ertz will have top-five fantasy potential from the tight end position in 2016.