According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Eagles are going to ask for permission from the Packers to talk to Green Bay assistant coach Darren Perry, who coaches the Packers safeties. Perry is 42 years old and has been with Green Bay for two years. He is credited with developing safety Nick Collins into a Pro Bowler.
Perry was with the Raiders prior to his time with the Packers, where he coached Nnamdi Asomugha to a couple of Pro Bowl seasons. Before the Raiders, he was on the Pittsburgh Steelers staff before joining Oakland. While with the Steelers, he was credited with the rapid development of a young safety by the name of Troy Polamalu.
I’m sure the existence of Collins, Asomugha and Polamalu on Perry’s resume spoke volumes to Andy Reid.
The Nittany Lion played with the Steelers for seven years and was a starting safety on their Super Bowl XXX Championship team. Maybe Perry can do the job there because of his work with Nnamdi, but Perry wasn’t the guy who developed the outstanding young corners in Green Bay.
Joe Whitt Jr. is the young secondary coach, who is credited with developing Tramon Williams and Sam Shields. Shields mentioned Whitt Jr. in a number of interviews and credited him with taking a raw rookie and transforming him into a big time player.
The two corners, who have picked off a total of five passes in the Packers’ three playoff games, have been the main reasons Green Bay will be playing in this year’s Super Bowl.
Also, after looking over the Eagles defensive staff of this past year, the biggest problem they had was at the cornerback position both on the field and in the coaching staff.
Dick Jauron was the secondary coach and Mike Zordich was his assistant. They both have more expertise at the safety position as opposed to the cornerback spot. Ellis Hobbs, Joselio Hanson, Dimitri Patterson, Trevard Lindley and the other Eagles cornerbacks couldn’t lean on the sidelines for a lot of help when they were getting incinerated during the season.
The Birds had no one to work with their cornerbacks on the nuances of playing the cornerback positon. The reads, fundamentals and techniques of playing the corner positon is important, but the Eagles need somebody on the staff, who has stood out there and been asked to blanket a receiver.
Unfortunately, Pro Bowl cornerback Asante Samuel is an outstanding player, but he plays a unique style which is hard to teach to another player with different skills.
Safeties are important, but the key to shutting down passing games in the National Football League is quality cornerback play.
The poor play by the Eagles cornerbacks, not named Asante Samuel, was the reason that they didn’t have a bye week in the playoffs and are 
currently sitting at home or on vacation.
The Eagles corners need help desperately.
I can understand why Reid would want to bring somebody like Perry, who has a tremendous pedigree of playing great football, then playing in, coaching in and winning Super Bowls, to Philadelphia.
Last week, Perry talked about how he has totally enjoyed himself coaching the young Packer players.
“This is probably as fine a football environment as I’ve ever been associated with,” Perry said, referring to Green Bay. “And that’s saying a lot coming from Pittsburgh because they’re pretty good.”
Perry his college ball for Joe Paterno at Penn State where he picked off 15 passes as a ball hawking safety.
I really hope he is the guy. Not only could he help develop Lindley and Patterson, maybe he can talk Asomugha to come to Philly.
I guess the Eagles had a plan all along.
Next up, they need a good LB coach. Any clue on who they would look to for that G?
Appears to be an up and coming Coach
For the record, Samuel did not play all that well the 2nd half of the Season after dinging his knee..
He had 6 Int’s midway thru the season and only had 1 the 2nd half od the Season..
Samuel also gave up quite a bit in the Red Zone where he has always struggled in my opinion..
Some good names on his resume. From Penn State. And he’s black. I’m down.
Like the move and he’s come from systems that have valued the Linebacker Position. He has been aligned with some good coahes like Joe Pa, Cowher, LeBeau , and Capors so he’s bound to have learned different ways to attack an offense. Maybe he can influence the grocery buyers on what type of player he’s looking for that will make this D successful . I see a position change for several players and maybe a house cleaning on the roster as well.
Like most assistant coaches in the league – I’m not familiar with Perry’s work. That said, the resume is solid. Best thing is new thinking in the organization and a different philosophy. Doesn’t hurt that Perry has been with winning organizations as player and coach for most of his career (just can’t count Oakland in that mix).
Hey G,
It sounds like you aren’t too excited about the idea of Perry as the DC. Looking at his resume it looks like he knows his stuff, and he’s been around some great coaches. I read another article that says a lot of people around the league think he is a great up & coming defensive guy that is ready for his chance at DC. Seems well respected.
G, it seems like everyone thinks just because the Eagles have asked for permission to talk to him means that he would want the job. Can you shed some light on whether or not Perry would even want to leave Green Bay?
LOL come on Birdo…’he’s black’ LOL….I need a little more insurance than that! however, I do like the fact that the Eagles are looking at guys that have had success in help develop some know players…With the youngins on the squad, this could pay dividends
On a lighter note….he kind of looks like a Waynes brother.
Oh god, here we go again. Every time a new “candidate” arises our “media” now hypes up the guy as if it’s a no brainer when they didn’t even know who the guy was before. Quite frankly, he’s another no named guy who has never run an entire defense successfully. With all these no named guys, it looks as if the Eagles are getting desperate and now need to find the “diamond in the rough” since all the big name candidates are either gone or already said they aren’t interested in leaving their current position.
scorp….what “big name guy” did you want?
Fisher is 3-0 against Reid
tydm, and in two of those three games — QB1 wasn’t playing.
Yea scorp. I don’t recall ever seeing a “big name” guy available.
To BoB
Either was the Titans unless you consider K Collins a #1 QB..
(Most NFL Obrservors consider him a back-up QB)
Former Superbowl QB. Leading passer in Penn State History. Just two years ago led the titans to a 13-3 record. Don’t blame Kerry for being a “back-up” — only reason he was a back-up was because they had so much money invested in Young. So yea, Collins is a #1, he’s been a #1 before.
Not that I know much about either, but I like Winston Moss better…..LB coaches usually make the best coordinators.
I’m still not sure why Urban Meyer and Randy Shannon are interviewing….or some quality control coach from Carolina
Birdo and EB, I never said I wanted a big name guy. I just stated that the ones people were talking about are now gone or aren’t interested in leaving their job i.e Mike Singletary, Dick Lebeau, Rob Ryan,and Dick Jauron. These were guys that early on people were hoping the Eagles would try to as the D coordinator. Not saying I felt that way. Personally, I don’t care about the name BUT I did want someone who had some success as a coordinator and not necessarily just a position coach. That’s just my preference. I’m surely not going to get hype over every potential candidate that is mentioned on this site because their resume looks solid. We have been relegated to finding the diamond in the rough.
i ‘m just saying Fisher had to face Steelers twice a year and Ravens twice a year. Now he face Colts twice a year and usually Pats or Steelers. while Reid face weak division and weak NFC LAST 10 years
FIRE REID
Actually Birdo, Collins started the following season after going 13-3 and he stunk up the joint then they switched to Young. They didn’t switch because of money. They switched because Collins stunk and was only a game managers the prior years with one of the best defenses and running games. Having said that, I’m with you about Fisher and his record against Reid. Means nothing to me.
Scorp – “BUT I did want someone who had some success as a coordinator and not necessarily just a position coach.”
This is what I’m asking. What guy out there was there to hire that “had some success as a coordinator”?? You can’t help it if a guy doesn’t want to leave his current job. You can only pick from what is available. I’m not sure there was a candidate that had success as a coordinator besides Trgovac, and I’m not sure he would leave GB. Other than that you had Mora and Davis who I wouldn’t say “had success” as a DC.
And for the record….i don’t trust Reid with a lot of things (ex. running the ball, game managment, a extra donut) BUT the guys is pretty damn good at hiring coaches. The track record of coaches that came from under Reid is impressive. Especially if you consider where these guys were before taking jobs under him. (Spags, Childress, Rivera, Fraiser, Harbaugh, Shurmur )
EXAMPLE: 2010 Titans toughest Steelers,Colts,Colts Eagles-Packers, Cutler led Bears 2009 Titans Patriots,Colts,Steelers,Colts ….Eagles-Saints 2008 Titans-Colts,Ravens,Steelers,Colts …. Eagles-Steelers, Ravens Switch Reid and Fisher for last ten years Fisher runs ball would have had more wins. Reid on Titans would have been fired
management** & doughnut***
tydm, I agree Fisher did constantly have a harder schedule. Reid’s teams whether you blame it on the QB or whatever (it doesn’t matter) were not able to take advantage of a perennial weak conference. For instance during the Eagles run there was no dominant team that people feared to play on a yearly basis like it was in the AFC. We didn’t have to constantly match up against the best QBs in the league either. Everything was set up for us but they couldn’t get it done. Players didn’t show up and coach got outcoached in the biggest moments. Just sad.
Having said that, Jeff Fisher has played under the same constraint that the Jets play under and Ryan seems to be able have his team a contender even with the Colts, Pats and Steelers in the conference. So I can’t fully excuse him because other teams including the Ravens had to compete with the same teams and are still able to be contenders. 6 playoff appearances in 16 years is unacceptable regardless of who’s in your conference.
tydm, having Eddie George & Chris Johnson probably makes running the ball a whole hell of a lot easier….haha
Very disappointed if this is the guy, I really wanted a proven coach not another project. That being said Andy wasn’t proven either so I guess we will see. And a note to Paulman on his assessment of Asantee; With 35 passes charted in his direction, Samuel has allowed just 3.0 yards per attempt and put up a Success Rate of 77 percent. No other cornerback with 30 targets or more even comes within a yard of Samuel’s rate, and the only other cornerback to hit even 70 percent in Success Rate this year is Darrelle Revis.
EB, I feel you. Like I said that’s just how I feel. I actually would have rather had Jauron rather than reaching for a position coach that hasn’t had the experience. Jauron has had success. But again, that’s just my thoughts. Neither right nor wrong, just how I feel. And you can credit all those coaches if you like for Reid but the defensive ones, I’ll credit to the guy they learned from, Jim Johnson and the subsequent coaches they were under after they left here. Can’t give Andy total credit for all of their development. Just my thoughts.
EB, of course having those guys makes it easier to run, but he drafted his running backs with the intention of actually using them. Can’t have success if you don’t try to have success.
rhfast, yeah I’m with you. I’m a little disappointed but hopefully everything turns out fine. But like I said already, if the personnel doesn’t improve in size and ability and toughness, they can bring back Buddy Ryan and we will still get torched.
Scorp, I hear ya. I wish there was a stud out there. But we shall see who is hired.
As for the coaches, while you have to credit Johnson as well, it was Reid who plucked these guys from some weird places….Rivera was doing TV, Spags was in was in the World League, Childress was in his first year in the NFL, Shurmur from Stanford, Frazier was in his 2nd year at Illinois. Harbaugh coach special teams for 1 year and DB’s at Indiana and Reid promoted from special teams to DB coach.
While Johnson may have seasoned these guys, it was ultimately Reid who found them. Because they were all hired within 11 days including Jim Johnson.
Maybe he is being looked at as our secondary coach since he is just in charge of the safeties and has coached primarily in 3-4 schemes
Perry’s background, both as a player and coach, has been in the 3-4 fire-zone scheme. He played in that system for Pittsburgh from 1992-’98 and coached in it for the Steelers from 2003-’06 and for the Packers the past two seasons.
Actually Westbrook,McCoy, and Harrison ave 5.1 yds a carry and that was better than eddie george but u need a coach who knows how to win big one
not pushing Fisher here just Reid out but doing my research today i a amazed how easy Reid had it oh hard AFC teams had it and I forgot for us Eagle fans how tough the Division was 1986-1995 while growing up. Man,Kotite,Buddy Ryan ,Rhoads had to play Super Bowl champion twice those years and all the champions were in the division except 3 49er teams which Eagles played in 89,94 can u imagine playing Super Bowl team twice and then 2 other tough teams twice. nice to look back . Clyde Simmons 19 sacks in 92 …..Lb’s were William Thomas,Byron Evans,Seth Joyner …..
Speaking of Leadership..Answer this question. Would the 34 year olds Hines Ward and James Farrior still be Eagles if they played here in Philly. My answer is that they would have released them 2 years ago. I was listening to Paulsboro’s Isaac Redmen (Steelers 2nd year RB) and he kept talking about the veteran leadership of Ward and Farrior and how the yound guys look up to them. We drop BDawk “like a piece of ****” and everyone thinks it’s great because “we” saved $…No we didn’t save any $..Lurie saved the $. The 5 mil. it would of cost to keep him would have pushed us up to maybe 19 th in the league in payroll..what a joke. The lesson here is to learn from the winners ..ie..Steelers.
If Andy is smart he will hire Darren Perry.His background with collins, Asomugha and Polamalu speaks for itself.
BTW I was in a few of Darren’s classes way back @ PSU, dude is a high energy intelligent man who will succeed at all costs.
Wonder if perry would run a 3-4 defense
I think they already have an agreement with him. I think this is who they were targeting all along. If they don’t already have an agreement with him, then maybe they feel real confident that they will get him. I don’t think they are switching to a 3-4, although I think every system that Perry has ever been in whether is was a coach or a player, has been a 3-4. I also think that they are gonna go real hard for Aso. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was part of the reasoning for hiring Perry.
I dont know y everyone’s so excited about this guy, First of all he’s been around nothing but 3-4 systems, we just brought in a great d-line coach who teaches 4-3, i hope these guys dont have it in mind to bring this guy in and have him switch to something he knows nothing about, we seen the results with this team tring to make people into something their not ( see DEs tring to play DTand OTs tring to play OG) get somebody in here that can work with our D-line coach and the players we have
I think that Perry can run a mix of a 4-3 and a 3-4 so it should be interesting. But, all it takes is the Packers to say no and there goes the pipe dream.
BAD MOVE, BAD MOVE, BAD MOVE!
Why in the hell would they go after another Dbs coach? Especially when hes only played in and coached nothing but a 3-4 defensive scheme. We may as well have kept Mcdermott atleast he had some knowledge of a 4-3 defense.
Washburn is a 4-3 Dline coach. I understand Perry developed Polamalu and Asomugha and all, but still ,hes used to running a 3-4 defensive scheme and he has no DC experience thats spells recipe for disaster.
Hell we may as well just make Gcobb the DC if were gonna go after Perry.
I’d like to see this team switch front 7 alignment between 3-4 & 4-3 during games. Let Washburn and Perry work together… two heads better than one??? Graham is better suited to OLB anyway and Teo stays at LDE with Parker. Graham certainly has plenty of speed at 260+lb… Perry should be able develop him with Washburn. And maybe even Reid/MM learn how to attack our own defense running both alignments. Let’s change it up; tired of seeing same old for so long! Reid is not getting any more extensions without a SB trophy in the showcase!
G, had you already heard about this when you wrote the “Packers’ Safeties” article? That’s pretty smart if you hadn’t.