Guest Post: Trying to make sense of the Juan Castillo promotion

Guest Poster Mark Trible gives his thoughts on the Eagles curious promotion of Juan Castillo:

Andy Reid’s vacation-long decision was announced, as the Eagles’ Offensive Line Coach became their Defensive Coordinator on Wednesday. Sounds shocking, I know. And, for those of you out there that heard the news, I’m sure the opening sentence of this piece is helping you digest the move again. I couldn’t quite digest it either.

Juan Castillo is as qualified to run an NFL defense as Rex Ryan is to run a humility clinic. With a few years of high school coaching and a brief USFL stint as a linebacker as the only key points on his résumé, the move brings about bewilderment to Eagles fans everywhere.

How did it come to this? It’s really quite amusing to try to come up with an answer. Of course, this all started with the tragic loss of Jim Johnson to Cancer in the off-season prior to the 2009-10 season. Johnson gave the franchise and the fans an identity for the defense. His impressive blitz packages were eccentric, beautiful and for the opposing offenses, bewildering. There seemed little harm in promoting his assistant at the time, Sean McDermott to replace him. Wrong.

McDermott’s unit struggled when he was in charge, and after a disappointing playoff exit, the heat was on Reid to make a move. He made that move by firing McDermott. Reid then brought in Jim Washburn to coach the defensive line, a move that was applauded by everyone in the NFL community. So as it came down to a few linebacker and secondary coaches in the Super Bowl for the job, it became apparent that the Eagles would grab a solid coach coming off a successful season.

Wrong again. The reason this move is puzzling goes far beyond the fact that Castillo has been an offensive coach. It goes beyond the fact that his offensive lines haven’t been great lately. The most puzzling part about the move is that Andy Reid needed to get the heat off his back. Step one was clearly to fire McDermott. Step two was to hire a defensive mind that would restore credibility. Reid didn’t exactly use the second step.

There’s little doubt that the reviews of Castillo’s work ethic are accurate. I’m sure he will be in the Novacare Complex all day and night, if for no reason other than to save his boss’ you-know-what. I believe Leslie Frazier when he says that Castillo is a great football mind, and when Ron Rivera raves about his preparation. But, I don’t believe for a second that the team can move forward with Castillo and Washburn without going outside of the franchise for a secondary coach and a linebackers coach.

Perhaps, the plan was to throw a ton of money at Washburn, throw a ton of money at a linebackers coach like Green Bay’s Winston Moss. Then, throw a ton of money at a secondary coach like Minnesota’s Joe Woods, who was interviewed earlier in the week. For Eagles fans everywhere, they had better hope that’s the plan. Because when the team goes looking for a starting cornerback, I would highly doubt the fans want to lean on what two line coaches feel is best. And, it goes without saying that fans aren’t interested in what Reid thinks is best on the defensive side of the ball.

The hiring of Washburn does give hope to the fans that the team will spend a good amount of money putting together a stellar defensive staff. If they can’t do that, Castillo will be on less than a short leash with those in Philadelphia. In a city that remembers the great defenses of Buddy Ryan and Jim Johnson, he has big shoes to fill. There will be no ‘grace period’ for him to find his footing.

McDermott found that out the hard way, and he had nine more years of NFL defensive coaching on his résumé.

Follow Mark on Twitter (@Mtrible) for more great Flyers and Eagles thoughts.