Will Andy Reid give Doug Pederson a place to land with the Chiefs?

Doug Pederson’s former boss could provide a place to land for Doug Pederson.

The Philadelphia Eagles officially decided to part ways with Doug Pederson on Monday after team owner Jeffrey Lurie and Pederson met for a second time in order to discuss the vision and future of the franchise. At this point, the Eagles are now asking questions about who will potentially fill the void. For Pederson, the questions are also about what’s next.

It makes sense, then, to ask whether or not Pederson could find a safe place to land with the team that sent him out: the Kansas City Chiefs. Pederson’s former boss is still very much gainfully employed as the team’s head coach, and based on a recent long-term extension he’s not going anywhere in the near future. The Chiefs are also likely going to be working through some potential changes of their own on the coaching staff, given that offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy is an odds-on favorite to land a head coaching gig with someone this offseason.

Bieniemy has already been interviewed (or plans to be interviewed) by five teams. If he leaves, the consensus has been that quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka could take over the reins there, but Reid has gotten creative with his coaching staff before and the promotion of one internal candidate doesn’t necessarily mean that an external hire is not possible. Think back to the roles played by Chris Ault or Brad Childress in recent seasons with the Chiefs for an idea of how Pederson could come on board as a senior advisor or assistant head coach and join the offensive staff for the near future.

The move to fire Pederson is a surprising one on one hand for the Eagles given that they just won a Super Bowl three seasons ago. Pederson led Carson Wentz and company to a Lombardi Trophy in his first year with the team. However from that point forward, it was clear that things soured quickly. The Eagles endured a miserable season this year in which the NFC East remained wide open, and a rift between Wentz and Pederson was likely to blame for a lot of the tension.

Pederson might decide to lick his wounds and weigh his options with some time away from the game. However, the Chiefs are already expected to shuffle things around. If Pederson hasn’t lost his fire, the Chiefs could be a meaningful place to land with an offense he already knows quite well.