Latest On Why Jeff Stoutland Is Leaving Eagles

ESPN’s Tim McManus has more details on the breakup between the Eagles and esteemed OL coach Jeff Stoutland, widely regarded as the best OL coach in football and a major edge factor for the Eagles over the last decade-plus. 

McManus explains this past year was tough behind the scenes in Philadelphia with the struggles on offense. As the unit remained stagnant, Eagles HC Nick Sirianni began to take a more active role in the second half of the season. McManus says Sirianni and OC Kevin Patullo began to incorporate different run designs into the offense. 

Stoutland, who has had the title of run game coordinator since 2018, was not consulted about the changes to a degree he felt appropriate, per McManus. He adds Stoutland felt like he effectively was no longer the run game coordinator and the experience gave him pause about continuing in Philadelphia.

Once the Eagles hired new OC Sean Mannion, it added more uncertainty to Stoutland’s outlook. McManus says Mannion was brought on to help mix in influence from the McVay-Shanahan coaching tree and scheme. It’s not an area Stoutland has background with and he would have needed someone to bring him up to speed on the new system. 

McManus notes a team source told him Stoutland was offered a role on staff under Mannion but the veteran coach declined. They added Stoutland is not expected to coach next year. 

McManus wrote he spoke with Stoutland’s agent last week, who indicated Stoutland was frustrated with how the season went and felt like his voice was not heard. The agent said it was possible Stoutland could move on but emphasized he was not retiring. 

That sets up something potentially interesting to monitor, as after Stoutland announced his retirement on Wednesday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media added Stoutland would remain with the organization in a non-coaching role.

Should Stoutland be available to other teams, there would likely be a long, long line for his services given his long history of developing offensive linemen and coaching strong units. 

Stoutland, 63, started out his coaching career in 1984 at his alma mater, Southern Connecticut State as inside linebackers coach. He left briefly to be a grad assistant at Syracuse before returning to Southern Connecticut as offensive coordinator until 1992.

From there, he had stints at Syracuse, Michigan State, Miami and Alabama as their offensive line coach. He was named the Eagles offensive line coach in 2013 and earned the title of run game coordinator in 2018, where he’s remained since.

We’ll have more on Stoutland as the news is available.