Jenkins sees Payton possibility as a plan
PHILADELPHIA >> If you are who your coach is and you don’t know who your coach is, who are you?
Basically you’re the Eagles. They interviewed offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur for their head coaching job Monday and intend to keep pounding the rock until they find someone to replace Chip Kelly, fired last week with two years worth of smugness left on his five-year contract.
While Shurmur discussed his philosophy with the Eagles’ braintrust, bloggers were in heat rewriting news stories about coaches and passing it off as news.
Among the more interesting endeavors is the Eagles’ interest in Sean Payton, who still is the head coach of the New Orleans Saints and as such, out of bounds to suitors unless management permits the dialogue or whoever talks to him wants to forfeit a draft pick for tampering.
Let’s just say a trusted source says the Eagles would jump into the pursuit, if, and only if, Payton became available. Ditto John Harbaugh, the former Eagles assistant whose rights belong to the Baltimore Ravens.
Which brings us to Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, a first-round draft pick of Payton in 2009 who has rolled with the hot coach in good times — including four of his five double-digit win seasons and a Super Bowl title — and through not-so-good times. Payton was suspended for the 2012 season along with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and the Saints were stripped of a couple of draft picks for letting Bountygate happen.
We had to ask Jenkins what it was like to play under Payton, who he calls a disciple of Bill Parcells and ruthless “on game days.
“Not during the week,” Jenkins said. “During the week he’s cool. But Sean’s the type of coach that if you have a really bad game or two bad games he’s going to work somebody out in your position group that Tuesday. He might not sign him but he’s going to send you that message. I’ve seen him come into a meeting and pretty much cut somebody that same meeting. Like, ‘Hey, you’re a liability.’”
The Eagles had their share of liabilities in their 7-9 season which, by the way, is what Payton guided the Saints to the last two years. Kelly didn’t make any authoritative statement until getting rid of wide receiver Miles Austin in December, when it almost was too late.
It would be interesting to see how the current cast of Eagles players would respond to Payton. Jenkins grinned while imagining the possibilities.
“It’s different,” Jenkins said. “If you’re weakminded you won’t make it. But if you can deal with it, nothing’s going to faze you. I know when him and Gregg Williams were together that was really the philosophy. They’d make it as hard as possible on you during the week and then the game was easy. The game was a cinch. There was nothing you faced harder in practice.”
Of course, there was nothing harder than a Chip Kelly practice, at least for the 300-plus pound offensive linemen who had to sprint through them. Playing at the fast tempo during games, well, the big guys were gassed by the end of the year. Select starters, including Lane Johnson, admitted as much. Payton’s teams run more conventional sets huddle.
Obviously it could be a while before Payton had enough tough-minded players to buy into his culture.
Ruthless as Payton is, the benefits of him as your head coach can be spectacular. Payton identifies and creates mismatches as easily as Jon Gruden on his best days.
Imagine Payton drawing up plays for Sam Bradford, who would have to be resigned, tight end Zach Ertz and yes, running back DeMarco Murray. The offensive line would need work. Payton has made receivers no one else wanted into stars.
“Sean with Sam Bradford? Yeah, I think so,” Jenkins said. “Sean’s obviously an offensive mind and Sam I think is a quarterback who’s smart enough to play and do everything at the line of scrimmage and run a complicated offense. He’s got the arm talent. He’s shown that. And after a year of staying healthy he has the confidence to put together a really good season. Zach Ertz? Yeah. He knows how to take the talent he has and create mismatches.”
Payton stays away from the defense, unless it’s to pop his head inside the meeting room, talk a little trash and leave.
“He’d say something like Julio Jones is going to do X, Y and Z to you,” Jenkins said. “He didn’t get involved in the install. Chip wasn’t in the install either. Chip might have come into our meetings and we’d never know he was there.”
Wooing Payton, if you believe reports, would take considerable resources. The Saints might be able to secure a draft pick. Payton’s paycheck is off the charts. He’s pulling down $8 million a year, tops in the league along with Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks.
It’s not like Payton can do wrong. There’s Bountygate. And he traded away tight end Jimmy Graham.
But if it’s what ruthless Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie wants, he’ll get that in Sean Payton.
“This team has talent,” Jenkins said. “I think Mr. Lurie understands the importance of getting the right guy because I think we have the opportunity to make some hay with the guys in the locker room. It’s just the person who comes in has to have the vision and creativity.”