Malcolm Jenkins: Doug Pederson Will Allow Eagles' Leaders To Lead
PHILADELPHIA, PA (CBS) — Eagles' Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins had to meet the man, so on Monday, he drove over to the NovaCare Complex to take care of a few things and found the time to pop in and visit with his new head coach, Doug Pederson.
The seven-year NFL vet came away impressed in their first face-to-face meeting.
Pederson "seemed really down to earth, easy to talk to and very transparent, he also has a plan how he wants to run this team and that was very encouraging," said Jenkins, the Eagles' leading tackler in 2015 from Hawaii, where he was preparing to play in his first Pro Bowl.
"From a player's perspective, you don't know what's coming in for someone as a first-time head coach, who now has control of everything. But Doug was very easy to talk to about what he wants to do."
Pederson will be leaning quite heavily on someone like Jenkins, one of the team leaders. But it wasn't Pederson who broached the topic of what he expects. It was Jenkins who asked Pederson what he expects.
"I brought that up to him as far as some of the things we have to do to improve as a team," Jenkins said. "I suggested that our leaders really need to have an environment where they could take a grasp of the team and lead by example and by being vocal.
"That environment needs to happen, because we have a locker room full of leaders that are really capable of elevating the play of others and holding ourselves accountable. Doug being a former player being in this league for a while, being under Andy Reid, those are the things he values and something he'll address pretty early. Obviously, he'll lean heavily on the leadership to set the tone and also to convey the message he wants to give to the team."
Jenkins said the Eagles move to a 4-3 defense is still not determined yet. He mentioned Pederson will evaluate the Eagles' defense and figure out from there what they do best and what scheme best matches the talent.
"As a player, that's something you love to hear in a coach, instead of someone that's going to force you into doing something that you're not capable of doing," Jenkins said. "Right now, the 4-3 or 3-4 is still yet to be determined. I really got a great first impression after meeting Doug. I liked what I heard and I'm excited about the future.
"I didn't see anything that caused concern. All I saw was optimism."
