The good news is, the Eagles have had recent success, and a stable core of veteran players.
The bad news is, that group has heard most of coach Doug Pederson’s material before.
According to Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pederson said he was adjusting his offseason program schedule, so when players show up Monday they have something new to learn.
“Yeah, you’ve got to find creative ways to motivate,” Pederson said. “I think you’ve got to find creative ways to utilize your time in the spring so it doesn’t get mundane and monotonous; we’re doing the same thing over. So there’s going to be a couple changes. Not major things, but some things with the schedule that we’re going to do a little differently.”
Things such as letting the offense use the weight room while the defense is in meetings and vice versa are small details, for sure. But he wants to mix it up since he has a group of people who already know him. He has 18 players who have been there throughout his time with the Eagles, and 32 players who were on the Super Bowl team in 2017 (including Vinny Curry who left and came back.)
“I’m exploring some ways to really maximize our OTA practices, those 10 practices we get, and really dive into more situations,” Pederson said. “I started two years ago with that, got a little better last year. But I want to really dive into the situational stuff in OTAs, prepare our players for those opportunities in games. Those are all things I’m looking at moving forward.”
Those are little things, and honestly first-world problems. Most coaches would love to have a roster so consistent and deep that keeping the schedule fresh is a concern.