NFL rumors: Eagles eyeing a candidate that could completely ruin Jalen Hurts

Perhaps Shane Steichen was actually the secret sauce in Philadelphia all along? After a relatively successful first year as the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Steichen's team is looking far better than his previous employer. Brian Johnson's tenure as the Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator lasted one year. The Birds' pathetic collapse down the stretch puts so much pressure on Nick Sirianni.

After firing both of his new coordinators, Sirianni needed to make a splash on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball to save his hide. Going with Vic Fangio as Sean Desai's successor could work out in the end, but who knows how much longer the ageless Fangio will want to keep coaching. As far as replacing Johnson is concerned, the Eagles are looking at someone like a Kliff Kingsbury.

The former head coach of the Arizona Cardinals spent last year on Lincoln Riley's USC Trojans staff as an assistant and quarterbacks coach. While the idea of hiring someone like a Kingsbury as the Eagles offensive coordinator is obvious due to starting quarterback Jalen Hurts' connection with Riley from his one year at Oklahoma, this potential partnership offensively offers too much variance.

This could work out well for everyone involved initially, but it always blows up in Kingsbury's face.

NFL rumors: Philadelphia Eagles tied to Kliff Kingsbury as their next OC

Admittedly, I get this potential partnership, in theory. The idea is the Eagles want to get a guy who can maximize Hurts' dual-threat playmaking abilities. He is expected to run a similar offense to what he did in Arizona, probably with some wrinkles he picked up from his fellow Texas Tech grad Riley at USC. We saw both Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray shine while playing under Kingsbury previously.

However, it inevitably hits the fan under Kingsbury, one way or another. Texas Tech played precisely zero defense when Mahomes was the starting quarterback at their alma mater. Arizona had one great year, and maybe another decent one under Kingsbury before all the air went out of that Cardinals balloon. To me, this is about bringing in a guy who could conceivably challenge Sirianni for authority.

See, Sirianni is desperate. He may not see an aging Fangio as a threat to him internally, but Kingsbury is an offensive-minded coaching contemporary. If the Eagles succeed with Kingsbury calling plays, Sirianni won't get any credit for it other than hiring him. This could create a fracture within the Eagles locker room that already feels fractured. While Sirianni feels very Philadelphia, Kingsbury does not.

Besides it being a weird culture fit for Kingsbury in Philadelphia, I have reservations about his offensive system having long-term staying power at any place in the NFL. The league is getting more and more passing centric, often borrowing concepts from the college and even high school games. Up-tempo spread has been en vogue, but that is not going to fly long-term in this blue-collar town.

Kingsbury may want to use Hurts' legs to his advantage, but we saw what happened when he started running Murray a bunch in Arizona. He got hurt, and then Kingsbury lost his job. I attest that Hurts has a far better work ethic than Murray, but he is just not as talented. Murray was a five-star everyone wanted coming out of high school. Hurts is the son of a coach who we still question if he can throw it.

Ultimately, the Eagles hiring someone like Kingsbury to run the offense is Philadelphia doubling down on something that we aren't entirely sure is going to work going forward. Hurts can still have great success in this league, but who he plays with and who he plays for matters a ton. He may continue to grow as a passer, but running a rinky-dink pop-gun Air Raid offense feels like a recipe for disaster.

I could be so wrong, but it feels like the Eagles are trying to shove a square peg through a round hole.