The following item is excerpted from the latest edition of Albert Breer's exclusive Inside the NFL Notebook:
In Philly, there's a spacious area connected to the head coach's office that, during the Andy Reid years, was fashioned as a conference room and gathering spot for the staff, intentionally placed near the boss. In 2013, it was overhauled and served as offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur's quarters in the time since.
Long story short, new Eagles coach Doug Pederson is switching it back into a conference room.
The idea here is to reconnect the football operation in particular and the entire building in general, a task owner Jeffrey Lurie laid out as an important one to Pederson and other candidates during the interview process.
"I think he felt that was missing -- the communication, an open-door policy -- and it's something I'm obviously willing to change and want to change, to try and make it the best working environment," Pederson said in a quiet moment between practices in Mobile on Wednesday. "If we're all together as a staff, it does bleed down to the team and affect that locker room."
We've talked a lot in this space throughout the season about rocky coaching-staff/front-office situations and how they can wreak havoc on an entire organization. And Philly was one of the prime examples of that over the last few months.
So now, executive vice president of football operations Howie Roseman is empowered, Chip Kelly is in San Francisco, and the Eagles have pulled another branch off the Reid tree to try and recreate the healthy environment they had there for 14 years.
Because of the weather in the Northeast, Pederson hasn't had the chance to gather his staff en masse at the office, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been aggressive in trying to flip the feel in the building. He did his best to get as many coaches as possible to Mobile this week, to get them face time with the scouts and vice versa.
"I wanted our guys down here this week, to start interacting with our scouts and our personnel department," Pederson told me. "I think it's important that we're all on the same page. They're gonna look at a player, [new D-line coach] Chris Wilson's gonna look at a player, I'm gonna look at a player, and there's gotta be a collaborative effort going forward. ... I think it's important that we're here this week, communicating with our scouts, and making sure everybody's on the same page."
For his part, Pederson added he does plan to research what went wrong in the building the last couple years -- "I think you need to know a little bit" -- to better understand some of his staff and players, and make sure similar things don't happen.
But more so, he's looking forward. And he knows that starts with his relationship with Roseman.
"It's good, it's good," he said of where things are with Roseman so far. "It's been that way from Day 1. We talk every single day, while we're down here, back in the office. He's always bouncing ideas off me, he's asking about players. It's a good relationship."
Outwardly, Pederson does seem aware of why he was a logical pick -- and that's a good thing.
Most times when a coach gets fired, the replacement has qualities that counteract (at least on paper) problems that the predecessor had. That's why, so often, a players' coach follows a taskmaster, and an aggressor follows the more agreeable type.
The previous Eagles regime had the feel of an arranged marriage. Conversely, this has the appearance of a family reunion. And accordingly, Pederson has a good idea of what his new/old boss is looking for.
"I want to hire guys that fit that mold; I want guys where it's about the Philadelphia Eagles first, that check their egos at the door," Pederson said. "And for the most part, I think every one of the guys is that kind of guy. ... It's having a tempo and setting a different standard. And then from there, the biggest thing is communication. Communicate with the front office, communicate with the staff, communicate with the secretaries, everybody. And make everybody feel a part of something. That's important."
Pederson did use that Chip buzzword: tempo. And this all certainly is a change of pace.
Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer.
