"If granted the opportunity, I would love to come back to Philly to coach and pass on my linebacking knowledge to this good group of young Eagles LB's," Joyner writes after saying he agrees with Reid's decision to move on from Sean McDermott as the defensive coordinator.
If Joyner is serious, it's an offer Reid (and the yet-to-be-named new defensive coordinator) should consider. The team already has former Eagles Mike Caldwell on the staff as an assistant linebackers coach, but bringing in another guy (and a guy who had much more success than Caldwell) certainly wouldn't hurt.
In his 13-year career, the first eight with the Eagles, Joyner had at least one sack in his first 12 years, and at least one interception and forced fumble in his first 11 seasons. He also had a six-year stretch from 1988 to 1993 where he had over 110 tackles.
In total, Joyner started 172 of the 195 games in which he played and accrued 52 sacks, 24 interceptions with two returned for touchdowns, forced 26 fumbles, recovered 12 and returning three for touchdowns to go along with over 1,000 tackles.
As a result, Joyner went to three Pro Bowls during his career ('91, '93, '94); the first two coming as an Eagle, and the third as a member of the Arizona Cardinals.
Compare that to the journeyman Caldwell who started a full season only once (2001 with the Eagles), never had more than 4.5 sacks, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and never recorded more than 73 tackles in a single season.
Joyner also chimed in with his own opinion of the much-maligned Ernie Sims.
"I worked one on one with Ernie Sims when he came out of college for a few weeks and the same problems he had then, plagues him now," wrote Joyner. "He's out of control and doesn't know how to channel his aggression at the proper times."
I think that's probably something we all saw with Sims as he ran past plays because he refused to break down and find the ball-carrier. The biggest thing to take from what Joyner said is that Sims has had the same problems since coming out of college, so that doesn't exactly breed confidence that he'll be able to make changes for the better next season.
Success on the field doesn't necessarily translate into success on the sidelines, but there's definitely no down-side to bringing Joyner in, even if it's just in an intern type of role as was the case this past season with Duce Staley.
Perhaps a guy who played under Buddy Ryan and Jeff Fisher can show this young group of linebackers what it's like to play the position properly.
