Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid fired veteran defensive line coach Jim Washburn on Monday morning in a move that Reid said he has been thinking about a long time. It sure sounded like Reid regretted firing former defensive coordinator Juan Castillo -- and not Washburn -- in the middle of the season.
"Nobody else made this move, and that's important for you to understand," Reid said. "This isn't a move to save my job. That's not what this is. This is a move that I think needed to be done now so I did it now."
Now we know why Reid went out of his way to essentially hurt Washburn's career. Called a "cancer" by one coach, Washburn reportedly showed scorn for Castillo when the two men worked together. Reuben Frank of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia has the inside scoop.
"Washburn operated apart from Castillo, running his own little defensive line fiefdom and often either ignoring Castillo or derisively calling him 'Juanita' in front of his players," a veteran Eagles player told Frank. "He was condescending and confrontational and embarrassed Castillo frequently in meetings and at practice and also went over the line criticizing his players at times."
Another coach said offensive line coach Howard Mudd, who's retiring after the season, and Washburn believed they were better than the rest of the Eagles' staff and rarely interacted with their colleagues. Washburn criticized the team's offensive play-calling last year. Washburn and Mudd were big-name coaching "free agents" who didn't blend in with the Eagles' staff.
It sure sounds like Reid made the same kind of mistakes building his staff as he did building his team.
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