Defensive Line

The Eagles interviewed Cleveland Browns linebackers coach Billy Davis for their defensive coordinator opening on Sunday, an NFL source said. The team had requested permission to meet with Davis last week but waited until Sunday to sit down with the 47-year old coach, according to the source. Davis has experience as an NFL defensive coordinator. Before he took the linebackers job in Cleveland in 2011, he was the Arizona Cardinals' coordinator from 2009-10. He also ran San Francisco's defense from 2005-06.

NEW ORLEANS - For the second time in three years, the Eagles are without a defensive coordinator as Super Bowl week opens. The delay in naming one has many speculating that new coach Chip Kelly has his eye on one of the assistant coaches preparing for Sunday's championship game. The Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers have two of the more renowned defenses in the NFL over the last decade, so it would make sense for the Eagles to focus on their staffs. Of course, the same was thought two years ago when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers were in the Super Bowl and Andy Reid was looking for a defensive coordinator.

FOR NOW, MANNY TAYLOR is a basketball player who happens to dabble in football. Just 1 year ago, the rest of that sentence after "who" would have read "has never played football and attends a school that doesn't even offer it. " But since he blots out the sun, at 6-6, 275, and had always been curious about trying the sport that requires pads, Taylor turned up the pressure on his mother and, wow, she finally relented. "My mom had done all the research about how football players don't have long-lasting careers because of injuries, and how their lives can be messed up by concussions," Taylor said.

THE NEW ORLEANS Saints fired defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo after one season - a record-setting year in the wrong way. New Orleans ranked last in the NFL in total defense and run defense, yielding the most yards (7,042) ever in a single season. The Saints went 7-9 this season and allowed 454 points; only Tennessee gave up more. Head coach Sean Payton, who returned to work this week after a seasonlong suspension, announced Thursday that Spagnuolo was being released. Payton also fired secondary coach Ken Flajole.

MOBILE, Ala. - The Eagles have made no announcements about Chip Kelly's staff, they say, because Kelly doesn't want to say anything until the staff is complete. And that apparently will be after the Super Bowl, assuming 49ers defensive backs coach Ed Donatell really is going to be the defensive coordinator. Bearing in mind that nothing is official, here are names and backgrounds that have been reported. Some of these coaches were in Mobile at Senior Bowl practice, wearing Eagles credentials and obviously working with Kelly and general manager Howie Roseman.

MOBILE, Ala. - The Eagles have hired Dave Fipp to be their next special teams coordinator, an NFL source said. The Eagles have not confirmed coaching hires since Chip Kelly was named head coach last week. They intend to announce the new additions once Kelly finalizes his staff. Kelly has most of his coaches in place, according to various reports, but still needs to hire a defensive coordinator and an offensive line coach. There is growing speculation that the Eagles are waiting until after the Super Bowl to hire a defensive coordinator.

The Eagles released Todd Bowles from his contract to allow the defensive coordinator to interview with other teams, an NFL source said. Several reports Friday said that Bowles was expected to get the defensive coordinator job with the Cardinals. He would be joining his former Temple coach, Bruce Arians, who was named Arizona's head coach on Thursday. Bowles, who was promoted by the Eagles midseason after Juan Castillo was fired, will replace Ray Horton, who left for the Browns.

Chip Kelly was Jeffrey Lurie's most important hire in 14 years. Now Kelly will have to make the most important hire of his career. The offensive-minded coach needs someone to run the Eagles defense, and after four seasons of subpar play the defensive coordinator hire may be every bit as pivotal as Lurie's choice of Kelly as his head coach this week. "I got a list of guys I want to talk to," Kelly said Thursday. Several names have already been mentioned. The Eagles have reportedly reached out to Georgia's Todd Grantham, Florida's Dan Quinn, and Alabama's Kirby Smart.

WHEN JEFF LURIE was running down the list of qualities he was looking for in his next head coach after firing Andy Reid 2 weeks ago, he made sure to mention - right after being a strong leader, strategic and comfortable in his own skin - that the guy had to be able to put together a first-rate staff, which presumably means no turning offensive-line coaches into defensive coordinators and no picking defensive line coaches who don't play well with others....

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - There's something about the Baltimore Ravens that brings out the worst in New England Patriots QB Tom Brady. Against most teams, he plays like one of the NFL's best. Against the Ravens, he gets outplayed by Joe Flacco. So what's the problem? Start with the Ravens' hard-hitting leader, Ray Lewis. Add a talented secondary led by Ed Reed. And throw in a strong defensive line with Haloti Ngata leading the charge. "They have a lot of playmakers at each level of the defense," Brady said on Wednesday.