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TEMPE, Ariz. -- John DeFilippo's resume is long. He’s been a coach since 2000, when he worked with quarterbacks at Fordham University. Over the next 18 years, the Philadelphia Eagles' quarterbacks coach has bounced between the NFL and college football, but there’s been one constant: When he’s had the chance to work with young, star quarterbacks, they’ve turned in productive seasons, most recently with Carson Wentz, who was a leading contender for NFL MVP when he went down in Week 14. DeFilippo, whom the Arizona Cardinals interviewed for their head coaching vacancy on Friday, is the only quarterbacks coach Wentz has known in the NFL. In two seasons, Wentz more than doubled his passing touchdowns from 16 to 33, while reducing his interceptions by half. He was also on pace for a 4,000-yard season before his injury despite having a lower completion percentage than his rookie season. But that’s just DeFilippo’s latest example. His first experience working with NFL quarterbacks on a daily basis began in 2007, when he became the Oakland Raiders' quarterbacks coach. Over the next two seasons, he coached four different starting quarterbacks: Josh McCown, Daunte Culpepper, JaMarcus Russell and Andrew Walter. In 2008, under DeFilippo’s tutelage, Russell started 15 games and threw 13 touchdowns against eight interceptions. DeFilippo became the New York Jets' quarterbacks coach in 2009, and was given Mark Sanchez to work with as a rookie. Despite Sanchez throwing 20 interceptions and just 12 touchdowns, while completing 53.8 percent of his passes for 2,444 yards, the Jets lost in the AFC Championship Game. He then spent the next two seasons at San Jose State, where he was the quarterbacks coach in 2010 and offensive coordinator in 2011, when he helped the Spartans rebound from a 1-12 season in 2010 with a 5-7 record in 2011. DeFilippo returned to the NFL in 2012 for three seasons as a quarterbacks coach. In his first, he worked with former Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer, who threw for 4,018 yards and 22 touchdowns the year before he was traded to Arizona. In 2014, DeFilippo was charged with grooming then-rookie Derek Carr, who threw for 3,270 yards and 21 touchdowns while completing 58.1 percent of his passes. After a stint as the Cleveland Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2015, he was let go when Mike Pettine was fired. Then DeFilippo joined the Eagles. And the rest, as they say, is history.
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