Eagles Bringing in Kyle Shanahan Protege to Help Offense Sounds a Bit Desperate

It's no secret that the NFL is a copycat league. When teams are looking for a new coach, they always want to find the next great young mind, and nowadays that's in the mold of a Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan. However, its usually hard to find the next up-and-coming coach, and sometimes teams look desperate with their hires (think Sean McVay's long list of friends and associates hired last offseason).

This may be the case for the Eagles' new senior offensive assistant coach Rich Scangarello. The former 49ers and Broncos coach worked with the likes of Kyle Shanahan. It is easy to see what the Eagles are trying to do: pick up a coach who can add wrinkles to an already-established offense led by head coach Doug Pederson.

At first, this seems like a great idea. Since finishing with the third-most points per game in 2017, the Eagles have declined in rank year-over-year. Philadelphia finished 18th and 12th in points per game in 2018 and 2019. The team must think that adding Scangarello will rejuvenate the offense to its former glory from the Eagles' Super Bowl season.

The problem is that Scangarello's coaching career hasn't exactly been perfect. He wasn't helping Shanahan coach San Francisco to a Super Bowl in 2019. Instead, he was the offensive coordinator for the Broncos, where they struggled. Denver finished bottom six in points and yards per game, which led to the team moving on from Scangarello after only one season on the job.

As much as this move should make sense, when you dig deep, it was made out of desperation. For Howie Roseman's sake, we hope it pans out anyway.