Rich Scangarello's Subtleties Could be the Key for Eagles Offense

Doug Pederson made a number of changes to his offensive coaching staff this offseason, and adding a voice outside the organization could be beneficial in many ways

PHILADELPHIA - Doug Pederson made a number of changes to his offensive coaching staff this offseason, none of which may have been more important than the hiring of Rich Scangarello, the former Denver offensive coordinator whose DNA as a coach is directly tied to the highly-regarded play-action concepts of the Kyle Shanahan/Gary Kubiak coaching tree.

Billed as a senior offensive assistant on the revamped staff, Scangarello sports a resume headlined by his work with Shanahan in both Atlanta and San Francisco.

Shanahan, the current coach of the reigning NFC Champion 49ers, is considered the best in the league when it comes to marrying the play-action part of things with the run game, something that dates back to Shanahan's father Mike, a long-time head coach with the LA Raiders, Denver and Washington, who won two Super Bowls with the Broncos.

"Kyle has been a big influence on me," said Scangarello when talking with reporters prior to Tuesday's practice. "Obviously, that's my background, that's what I believe in. I think those philosophical beliefs, they can be used in any style of offense and any type of run schemes."

Play-action is the staple of the Shanahan offense and its offshoots like the Kubiak-branded version in Minnesota that got Kirk Cousins so many clean looks that devastated the Eagles' secondary last season.

Under Pederson, Philadelphia already used a ton of play-action, 31 percent last season, good for seventh in the league, according to FootballOutsiders.com. As a comparison, Minnesota was ninth at 30 percent and the 49ers were No. 4 at 32 percent.

So the Eagles were smack dab in the middle of the two standards meaning this is about efficacy, not simply Carson Wentz running the mechanism.

"We feel like (Scangarello) can add to what we already do around here," said passing game coordinator Press Taylor. "Rich may have some different details for some of the things they've done or some different ideas of how to attack a certain defense, how to get guys in certain situations. And that's really what we're trying to do, we're trying to add different experiences that we feel like can take our 2020 Eagle offense to the next level."

Because all 32 teams in the NFL use play-action liberally, SI EagleMaven asked Scangarello what sets the Shanahan version apart.

"I think Kyle has a great deal of respect in the league for how he's married the run system to the pass system. The details of that are very important," said Scangarello. "It goes back to his days learning from his dad when he was a teenager in Denver, then his experience with the Houston Texans with Gary Kubiak, then him shaping his vision for how all that comes together."

There are plenty of copy cats, but Scangarello said seeing it on film is not the same as understanding those details.

"To be part of that process, you just learn details and intricacies that very few people know, that come from him ultimately," he said. "People see it on film, and they think they know, but they really don't."

There will be no secrets with the Philadelphia coaching staff inside the NovaCare Complex where there are a lot of Sous chefs surrounding Pederson.

Along with Scangarello, you have Taylor, assistant head coach/running back coach Duce Staley, offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland, senior offensive consultant Marty Mornhinweg, and passing-game analyst Andrew Breiner, not to mention all the other position coaches who are given a part of game-planning by Pederson.

"That's the cool part of being part of it and having that knowledge. It's an exciting part of taking that somewhere into a new building and sharing that with coaches who maybe you can help with that," said Scangarello. "So it's been exciting to be a part of so far."

More so, Scangarello sees a natural fit with Wentz, who he called an elite pre- and post-snap processor comparable to Matt Ryan, and the hybrid west-coast/spread offense that Pederson has already used to win one Super Bowl.

"I think it fits our quarterback," said Scangarello. "It fits our personnel. But again, this is our offense here in Philadelphia. I don't think it will look much different than it has in the past."

Pederson has echoed that sentiment.

"I don't think from the naked eye you're going to see a ton of different concepts, different ideas, different things," said the head coach back in the spring. "What you're going to see from our standpoint is subtleties within what we do as an offense: protections, the play-action game, screens, even the run game."

And those subtleties are Scangarello's domain.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SportsMap Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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