Tuesday, as he faced inquiring minds in the cavernous auditorium at the team's training facility, Reid appeared as nervous as a floating drumstick in an alligator pond.
He spun off some ridiculous tale about offering deposed Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo a spot on the Eagles staff - not as the defensive coordinator, but just to help current defensive coordinator Juan Castillo.
"I thought the two of them together would have been dynamite," Reid said.
Interestingly enough, we didn't really find out that Castillo was still the defensive coordinator until earlier that day.
There are two ways to think about what Reid was hatching for his defense in the 30 days he spent in the bunker away from us, and neither of them makes much sense.
If Reid did indeed offer Spagnuolo a spot as just another hand on deck, did the coach actually think that could work? Last year, whatever talents Castillo brought to the defense were diluted by the demands of Jim Washburn's wide-nine scheme, and it took the Birds more than half a season to adapt. With Spagnuolo on board, the Eagles would have been the first team in NFL history with tri-defensive coordinators (or maybe quad-defensive coordinators, considering the hiring of secondary coach Todd Bowles).
So let's focus on the more likely scenario, which is that Reid actually wanted to replace Castillo with Spagnuolo and just didn't get his man.
It's possible that Spagnuolo looked around the nest and figured he didn't want to be a defensive coordinator for a coach in perhaps a lame-duck season (next year is the year of reckoning for Reid, since that's when team owner Jeffrey Lurie will have to decide whether to fire him or give up another contract extension), and thus maybe be fired for the second straight season.
