THE BRAIN DRAIN
Eagles OC Frank Reich leaving to take head job with Colts
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles lost another coach critical in shaping their quarterback room, Frank Reich agreeing to a five-year deal to be head coach of the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, per reports.
Reich takes the job New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels agreed to before abruptly changing his mind earlier this week.
The Colts also interviewed Leslie Frazier, the defensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills and Dave Campbell, assistant head coach of the New Orleans Saints for the head coaching job. Reich, Frazier and Campbell all are former NFL players, Reich spending 11 seasons in the NFL primarily as a backup quarterback with the Bills during their run of four straight Super Bowl appearances ending in 1993. The Colts wentz 4-12 last season and haven’t reached the playoffs the last three years.
Last Friday, Eagles assistant John DeFilippo took the offensive coordinator job with the Minnesota Vikings.
That opens the door for Eagles running backs coach Duce Staley to become the team’s offensive coordinator.
Reich, 56, was an assistant with the Colts from 2006-11, exiting for the Arizona Cardinals the year before Indy selected quarterback Andrew Luck with the first overall pick in the draft. He was offensive coordinator of the San Diego Chargers before joining the Eagles in 2016.
Reich’s mission is to rebuild the confidence of Luck, who didn’t play at all last year due to shoulder surgery and has missed 26 of 48 games the past three seasons.
Reich and DeFilippo built arguably the top quarterbacks room in the league in two years with the Eagles. Carson Wentz, the second pick in the 2016 draft, threw 33 touchdown passes before a season-ending torn ACL past season. Backup Nick Foles was MVP of the Super Bowl, the 29-year-old veteran producing a passer rating of 100 or more in three playoff games.
Reich will work with embattled Colts general manager Chris Ballard, who McDaniels left high and dry after agreeing to become head coach Tuesday.