The Eagles pulled yet another surprise Monday in their search to find their next head coach.
In addition to holding a previously scheduled meeting with Cincinnati offensive coordinator Jay Gruden, they also revealed that they met with former Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt Monday.
Also, the Eagles confirmed Monday night that they have scheduled a second meeting with Seattle defensvie coordinator Gus Bradley for Tuesday. Bradley initially talked to the Eagles on Saturday in Atlanta, a day before the Seahawks suffered a 30-28 loss to the Falcons in the playoffs.
Counting Gruden and Whisenhunt, the Eagles have now interviewed 12 candidates since firing coach Andy Reid exactly two weeks ago.
Like Reid, the 50-year-old Whisenhunt was fired on New Year's Eve by the Cardinals. He became the fourth former NFL head coach to chat with the Eagles about their vacancy, following Brian Billick (Baltimore), Mike Nolan (San Francisco) and Lovie Smith (Chicago).
Along with Bradley, they are all believed to be among the top contenders to succeed Reid.
Whisenhunt coached the Cardinals for six seasons. He led them to their only Super Bowl appearance in the 2008 season, when the Cards beat the Eagles in the NFC championship game before losing to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl. Prior to joining the Cards, Whisenhunt was Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator under then-coach Bill Cowher.
Whisenhunt also interviewed with Buffalo, Cleveland and San Diego this offseason.
Gruden, the brother of ESPN analyst and former NFL coach Jon Gruden, has earned a lot of credit the last two seasons for the development of Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver A.J. Green.
