Jim Schwartz He said in January that he planned to pull off the 2021 season, but it looks like the five-year-old Eagles defensive coordinator has backtracked on that promise.
The former DC Titans plans to return to Tennessee, according to Brent Dougherty of 104.5 The Zone and Terry McCormick of TitanInsider.com (Twitter links). Schwartz has a long history with the Titans, having worked in various positions with the franchise since renaming the Titans in 1999.
Schwartz’s first Titans concert launched him to head coach radar. He worked as the DC of Tennessee from 2001-2008 and was with the franchise for 10 years before accepting the job of the HC Lions in 2009. Schwartz was the Titans ’defensive assistant on his Super Bowl team in 1999 and served as the team’s defense coach in 2000. That defense took first place in the overall, which led to Schwartz’s rise to DC in ’01.
Following Dean Pees‘Last retreat, the Titans were left without a true defensive coordinator last year. The results were not good. Tennessee ranked as one of the worst defenses of the third relegation in modern NFL history and ranked 28th in total defense. The Titans, who offered Pees a role in their 2021 staff, promoted the 2020 defensive call Shane Bowen and DC. He looks set to have some notable help next season.
The 2017 Super Bowl-winning defense in the Eagles placed fourth in Schwartz, and the Fletcher Cox-anchored unit ranked in the top ten in the 2017-19 race. Almost everything fell off the track at Philly last year, but Schwartz has a history of coaxive production. The 54-year-old assistant has occasionally appeared on the HC carousel, but has been a defensive defender since the Lions fired him in 2014.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.