Eagles Expected to Hire Jemal Singleton

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles have found a replacement for Duce Staley.

Nick Sirianni is expected to bring in veteran coach Jemal Singleton as both his running backs coach and assistant head coach, the same two titles Staley held under Doug Pederson since 2018.

BREAKING:

UK RB Coach Jemal Singleton is leaving Kentucky to go to the Philadelphia Eagles where he has been named RB Coach and Assistant Head Coach
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 8, 2021

A former RBs coach with Indianapolis, the then-Oakland Raiders, and Cincinnati for the past two seasons, Singleton had accepted a job as the RBs coach and special teams coordinator at the University of Kentucky last month but will not coach a game with the Wildcats.

Staley's main autonomy as assistant head coach under Pederson was being in charge of the Eagles' developmental program. There is no word on what the job description will entail under the new coaching staff.

Singleton, 45, went to Ait Force and started his coaching career at the Academy in 2003 as a varsity assistant before being promoted to RBs coach, a position he held from 2006-2010.

From there Singelton left for Oklahoma State as the RBs coach from 2011-14 which was followed by a one-year stint at Arkansas as both the RBs coach and special teams coordinator,

By 2016, Singleton graduated to his first NFL job as the RBs coach with Indianapolis, a stint that lasted for two seasons. By the time Sirianni arrived in Indy for the 2018 season, Singleton was in Oakland with the Raiders then spent 2019 and 2020 with Zac Taylor as the Bengals' RBs coach.

After five years in the pros, Singleton had agreed to return to the college ranks at Kentucky before the Eagles came knocking.

A source confirmed to SI.com's EagleMaven that the Eagles also talked to University of Texas RBs coach Stan Drayton, a highly-paid college assistant with extensive recruiting duties, about the job before settling on Singleton.

The major positions on Sirianni's inaugural Philadelphia staff are now filled:

Offensive coordinator – Shane Steichen

Passing game coordinator – Kevin Patullo

Quarterbacks coach – Brian Johnson

Running backs coach/Asst. head coach – Jemal Singleton

Wide receivers coach – Aaron Moorehead

Tight ends coach – Jason Michael

Offensive line coach – Jeff Stoutland

Defensive coordinator – Jonathan Gannon

Defensive line coach – Tracy Rocker

Linebackers coach – Nick Rallis

Secondary coach – Dennard Wilson

Assistant defensive backs coach – Jay Valai

There are only two holdovers from Pederson's last staff - Stoutland and Moorehead.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Tuesday and Thursday on "The Middle" with Eytan Shander, Harry Mayes, and Barrett Brooks on SportsMap Radio and PhillyVoice.com. He’s also the host of Extending the Play on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

Ed Kracz is the publisher of EagleMaven. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.