Doug Pederson says he's still rooting for the Eagles, wants to be a head coach again after 2021 season

The former Super Bowl champion spent 2016-2020 as Philly's head coach

Doug Pederson is sitting out the 2021 NFL season after his January dismissal from the Eagles, having forgone potential opportunities to serve as an offensive coordinator this year. But that doesn't mean the former Super Bowl-winning coach is finished on the sidelines. Speaking with 97.5 The Fanatic's Anthony Gargano this week, Pederson said he's spending his off time "recharging" and "regrouping" ahead of a hopeful return to the league, and his goal is, in fact, to be a head coach once again.

"It's been about 34 years since I've really had any kind of a break," Pederson told Gargano. "And this has really been a good time for me. To just kind of refocus, recharge, regroup and really think about what I wanna do in the next five to eight years."

"For me, I feel like if I get another opportunity, I wanna do it again," he continued. "I went to two Super Bowls as a player in Green Bay and then obviously (again), being the coach of Philadelphia, so three Super Bowls. And when it gets in your system like that, it's just hard to turn that off. And the competitor inside wants to continue to compete. Hopefully I get another opportunity to lead a football team and do the same things again and learn from the last five years."

Pederson went 42-37-1 in five years as head coach of the Eagles, guiding the team to three playoff trips and, most notably, Philadelphia's first-ever Super Bowl championship in 2017. Fired after the club's 4-11-1 finish in 2020, he added that he has no hard feelings in Philly.

"Nothing surprises me anymore with the league. ... It's just the way our business is," he said. "And it's OK. It's OK. We got accomplished in Philadelphia what I wanted to get accomplished, and that was to win us a world championship. And I wish everybody -- you know, Nick (Sirianni), and all the guys -- the best of luck moving forward."

Pederson said he'll be pulling for the Eagles in Sirianni's first year as the new coach. That could be subject to change in 2022, of course, if he gets his wish down the road.