Gase Emerges as Eagles’ Frontrunner

PHILADELPHIA (973espn.com) — He's not LeBron James but the way NFL teams are treating Adam Gase, the soon-to-be former Chicago Bears offensive coordinator may want to schedule his own version of "The Decision" for the NFL Network.

A day after meeting with the Eagles in South Philadelphia, Gase was in Berea, Ohio today to discuss the Cleveland Browns coaching gig with that team's new braintrust, which features enigmatic owner Jimmy Haslam, chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta, who was in the New York Mets' front office a few days ago, and the lawyer now running their football operations department, Sashi Brown.

(Listen to John McMullen discuss the Eagles coaching search)

Gase's upcoming itinerary, meanwhile, features trips to South Florida to meet with the Miami Dolphins on Thursday, and North Jersey, where the Eagles' NFC East rival, the New York Giants, get to do their due diligence on the 37-year-old offensive guru.

When all that is said and done, Gase is set to double back and meet with Philadelphia again over the weekend, according to the NFL Network.

That's is a clear indication that Gase is the frontrunner to replace Chip Kelly in the minds of the Eagles' search committee of Jeffrey Lurie, Howie Roseman and Don Smolenski.

While Philadelphia waits for Gase, the team plans to interview Giants offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo on Thursday and perhaps Chiefs OC and former Eagles quarterback Doug Pederson. An NFL source confirmed the McAdoo meeting with 973espn.com.

Pederson, however, is busy right now getting Kansas City ready for the its Wild Card Weekend matchup in Houston with the Texans.

Gase was the first outsider brought in by Philadelphia for its current search and the third interview overall since Kelly was fired last Tuesday.

Eagles running backs coach Duce Staley got the first crack at the job late last week but isn't a serious contender and interim head coach Pat Shurmur got a chance to argue why he should be elevated on Monday.

Two NFL sources confirmed to 973espn.com that the strange timing of Kelly's firing was at least in part to get first in line for Gase, who did a great job with the Bears' Jay Cutler this season and helped Denver get to Super Bowl XLVIII as its offensive coordinator.

-John McMullen covers the Eagles and the NFL for 973ESPN.com. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen