Ex-Eagle weighs in on Spagnuolo talk

Steve Spagnuolo
Steve Spagnuolo
By Jeff McLane, Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted: January 05, 2012

There might not be another player in the NFL who has a better grasp of the Eagles' defensive-coordinator situation and how it relates to Steve Spagnuolo than former Eagle and current Ram Quintin Mikell.

Mikell, a safety, played under Spagnuolo when the coach was a defensive assistant with the Eagles in the mid-2000s. Mikell then signed with St. Louis last year largely because the Rams head coach recruited him.

Mikell said that he recently spoke with Spagnuolo, not long after he was fired by the Rams, about the speculation that the coach would return to the Eagles and replace Juan Castillo as the Birds' defensive coordinator.

"He said he wasn't sure if that was in the cards," Mikell said Wednesday during a phone conversation. "At the end of the day I feel he's a really good head coach, but I think he missed being involved in the play-calling."

Spagnuolo, of course, would return to calling the defense if he took the Eagles job. He was defensive coordinator for the Giants in 2007-08 and part of a Super Bowl winner. He took the Rams job in 2009 but went only 10-28 in three seasons and was let go Monday.

"I would say he wouldn't be against" returning to the Eagles, Mikell said. "You got to remember he was a head coach, and it's not easy to go from being a head coach to taking a step down. But I would also say that if he did something like this he would have to be somewhere he was comfortable with the situation and the people.

"If he decided to do that, he should be an assistant head coach. If I was him I wouldn't do it for anything less than that."

Contact staff writer Jeff McLane at 215-854-4745, jmclane@phillynews.com, or @Jeff_McLane on Twitter.

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