My Bold Prediction for Andy Reid's Next Stop

It is pretty much a foregone conclusion that Andy Reid will not be back next season as the Eagles head coach especially since team owner Jeff Lurie already stated before the season started that the team would have to do a better job than last year's 8-8 record for him to keep his job.

At 3-8 with five games to go, there is a very strong possibility that this team does not win another game this year, so that begs the question of what is next for Reid? The first thing you can rule out is seeing him on ESPN or the NFL Network breaking down matchups or talking about which team is going to win the Super Bowl. He barely has the personality to do a postgame press conference let alone ham it up with Chris Berman on NFL Countdown.

He is a coach and that is what he does best. Love him or hate him, Reid is the best coach in the history of the Eagles franchise and it will be a long time before we ever see another coach do that much hard time in the City of Brotherly Love. It is hard enough to coach here for four seasons let alone 14 so he does deserve some credit for that. His main fault during this tenure was hanging around one or two seasons too long. He should have left town with Donovan McNabb as both of them were in desperate need of a fresh start.

Now on to the question at hand; what will Andy Reid be doing the first Sunday in September of next year? If he is smart, nothing, but that does not seem to be Reid's style. There are bound to be a few other vacancies in the NFL after this season besides Philadelphia and you would have to think that with a track record like his there would be some interest from the other teams looking for a new coach.

What about the New York Jets? Owner Woody Johnson has already seen where a coach who could not keep his mouth shut got him, so maybe hiring one that has specialized in one-word answers to the press would be a breath of fresh air. Reid has already shown that he can handle the hostile atmosphere in Philadelphia so coaching in the Big Apple might actually be a breeze.

Another possibility could be San Diego, but it is hard to see the Chargers replace one coach who outstayed his welcome with another that just did the same. There could be a vacancy in Cleveland, but with Mike Holmgren out of the picture, the new owner would probably not want to hire one of his proteges.

My bold prediction for Reid's future is the old coaching switcheroo. Sean Payton still maintains that he is returning to New Orleans next season after serving his one-year suspension by the NFL, but that could be easier said than done. He may actually need a fresh start much like Reid and what a better place to land than in Philadelphia, where his brash temperament would fit like a glove. Reid could head on down to the Big Easy to a team that already has an elite quarterback and a built-in mentality of throwing the ball 40 to 50 times a game. This may sound like a reach, but when this whole deal goes down just remember where you read about it first.