Just a few days ago, Steve Spagnuolo signed with the New Orleans Saints to become their defensive coordinator. Any possibilities of him returning to the Eagles were put to rest, and now the question remains, who will be the defensive coordinator in 2012?As of right now, it seems like the Eagles will bring back Juan Castillo to be defensive coordinator. That notion may make your stomach churn, and it might even make you a little sick, but please hear me out on why giving Juan a second chance would be best for this team.
To begin, it would be foolish to think that after the final four games of the season that the Eagles defense finally came around and made the necessary adjustments. The Eagles played a bad Dolphins team, an even worse Jets team, a disinterested Cowboys team, and finally the Washington Redskins who weren't exactly an offensive threat. To the Eagles' credit, the defense did look better in the last few games. But to sit here right now and think that the Eagles magically fixed their defensive problems by beating up on bad opponents would be a major mistake.
While I'm not using the later part of the 2011 season in favor of Castillo, I will first make my case for Juan based on team chemistry. You saw what happened in 2011 when a completely new defensive scheme was implemented: major holes, blown assignments, and ultimately blown leads and disappointing 4th quarter losses. So to bring in a completely new coordinator for next season with a new scheme would set the Eagles back at least another year. But keeping Castillo means that the current defensive guys have a year of experience under their belts heading into next year.
As the year progressed, you could tell that guys were beginning to buy into Castillo's system. Initially they were probably extremely skeptical, but as the year went on more and more guys began to believe in what Juan was saying. With that comes carry over into next season.
On the sidelines Castillo is passionate and enthusiastic. If he is passionate on game day, just imagine the passion with which he is pouring into this off season on becoming a better defensive coordinator. And Castillo is like Andy Reid, in that guys like him and love to play for him.
Overall I don't feel like there are any great coaches remaining to fill the defensive coordinator position. Unless the Eagles could get a guy like Brian Billick or Jack Del Rio, they should definitely seriously consider keeping Castillo as their defensive coordinator at least for one more year.
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