Jacksonville’s winding path toward hiring a head coach is coming to an end. Doug Pederson will land the job, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter). The Jaguars have since announced the hire.
Pederson interviewed twice with the team, which is close to bringing in ex-Vikings GM Rick Spielman for a high-ranking front office position alongside Trent Baalke. Pederson, who led the Eagles to a win in Super Bowl LII, did not coach last season but was connected to multiple jobs during this year’s hiring cycle.
The former Philadelphia HC will soon work with another highly drafted quarterback, and Pederson spoke with Trevor Lawrence on the phone earlier Thursday night, Schefter tweets. While Pederson’s final season with Carson Wentz ended in the Eagles radically changing course, the veteran play-caller will have a chance to work with one of the top QB prospects to enter the NFL in many years.
At the end of this search, the Jags were also linked to recent Raiders interim HC Rich Bisaccia and Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich. The latter was believed to be in talks with the Jags about a deal last week, but momentum stalled. The former Jacksonville first-round pick may well have bowed out of this search earlier Thursday. Leftwich indeed balked at pairing with Baalke, according to Aaron Wilson of ProFootballNetwork.com.
Pederson, 54, was the first candidate to meet with the Jaguars during the new in-season interview period. He also met with the Bears and Saints in the weeks following that initial Jags discussion.
Pederson clashed with Eagles management during his Philadelphia tenure, and SI.com’s Albert Breer notes his interest in the Jacksonville job cooled a bit because of the Jags’ commitment to Baalke. But Spielman’s potential arrival — for a position that could outrank Baalke’s — may have been enough to convince Pederson. The two share an agent, Breer adds (Twitter links).
The former Chiefs offensive coordinator went 42-37-1 as Eagles HC, with 2020’s disastrous 4-11-1 season heavily impacting that mark. Still, Pederson oversaw one of the most remarkable playoff runs in modern NFL history. The Eagles won Super Bowl LII as the NFC’s No. 1 seed but did so despite being underdogs in all three playoff games without Wentz. With notable assistance from then-OC Frank Reich, Pederson guided future Jaguar Nick Foles to two dominant performances to close out the Eagles’ championship run. The Eagles did not win 10 games in a season again under Pederson, however, with Wentz not playing up to his MVP-level form of previous years.
The Jaguars are attempting to shake off Shad Khan‘s poor Urban Meyer hire, and the team is in need of upgrades at most positions, having gone 4-29 over the past two seasons. Lawrence represents a potentially high-end centerpiece, adding to this job’s appeal despite the franchise’s struggles for most of the past decade and change. The Jags are also set to hold nearly $60MM in cap space, providing more resources for a rebuild. If nothing else, Khan figures to give Pederson plenty of time after the quick Meyer unraveling.
The Jags just couldn’t waste another year of Lawrence’s development with some DC or OC that is a “project” as head coach. Hopefully Pederson can put together a staff that is as good as the one he initially built in Philly.
My guess is, that staff looks a lot like the Chicago Bears staff from last year, because a lot of good coaches who run Pederson’s system are off the board, or may not want to deal with that dumpster fire.
Que Matt Nagy, Juan Castillo and Sean Desai.
I can see this as well, though he’s also worked with David Culley, Press Taylor, Jim Schwartz and Cory Undlin
This is gonna be a Mike McCarthy-type hire: works out on the field but doesn’t give them the most potential they could have. Mike McCarthy is still leading the Cowboys to wins, but he’s not the best candidate to lead them. Peterson should be able to help them win, and help Lawrence as well. But maybe starting new might be a better idea . . . Have your first time head coach learn along with the team. Oh well – they’re trying to go the Urban Meyer way again and bring experience. Hopefully this goes better than the Meyer hire . . . Also I think he’s a better hire than Bisaccia at least.
The difference I see is that Pederson has won with much fewer skilled players than Mike McCarthy. I just question if he can attract any decent coordinators to that dumpster fire of a team.
Nick foles
Generally speaking, it’s usually a good idea for teams that have never won anything to fire people who have won something.
So, this seems like a pretty decent hire for a dumpster fire like Jacksonville.
What did Urban win in the NFL? 2 games? Yeah big step backwards from that excellence.
I think he meant to say “hire”
Unfortunate typo there, yes.
College con artists/coaches should never be hired by NFL teams. And if they are, firing them promptly is the way to go.
Even Saban ran right back to where you can recruit (rather than coach) your way to wins.
Pederson won a Super Bowl. Even if you think he’s a bad coach and lucked into it, still way better than anything the Jags have done.
This does seem like a good hire. One thing for sure: it ain’t Urban. Good guy. Former NFL QB. Head coach experience. Everybody is looking for Sean McVay. Why not an Andy Reid.?
Because your Andy Reid’s and Pete Carrol’s and Bruise Arians need superstar talent to bring them to heights.
Rare Jags W
Oh my god! He isn’t black! *passes out from pearl clutching wokeness*
Well we don’t know that for certain, they haven’t publicized his Ancestry and Me results yet…
Lawsuit coming I’m sure
Jags be jaggin
Clown franchise.
Not til next week when Urban files his lawsuit claiming ownership, management, his own assistants and the water boy forced him to tank, and dance with that innocent gal at the club. Right now it’s just a sideshow franchise.
I wonder if you take the argument of white player to black if you can switch it over to white coaches to black. If one argument is valid so is the second. Black head coaches or lack of will be a forgotten just like the black QB isn’t smart enough to be a QB. I also don’t think we should be fast tracking black coaches to a HC because it will hurt them short term. Maybe get them into the spring league to train them to be a HC. I am sure the USFL would be happy to get their coaches with a fee from the NFL.
I just can’t believe a 2nd NFL team is letting Trent Baalke run the show. Do the Jaguars not have access to his 49ers tenure? Doug is solid but he wasn’t the best option and will just tolerate Baalke.
I was going to comment that it’s definitely not a good look that multiple coaches were shying away from the biggest coaching job in the game because of Baalke. Should say a lot to Khan about who he has in his building.
Not sure this is the best hire. Supposedly, Pederson had issues with Roseman. Baalke is notoriously difficult. Spiel AB has been hired as a strange quasi consultant that may or may outrank Baalke whose role is unclear-which sounds suspiciously similar to the role Baalke had while hovering over Dave Caldwell (also before wasting Caldwell’s picks).
Pederson himself was predictable and uninspired as a coach towards the end, at least the last two seasons. I know he wanted another job badly, and the Jags want winning experience, but I’m not sure a few years of success are going to outweigh the possibility of another dysfunctional environment with a coach who obviously does not respond well to it.
I’d like to think Pederson has learned his lesson a bit, although there’s little evidence to actually support that. I would probably be more comfortable with the hire if Baalke weren’t still in a significant managerial position (although in that case, Leftwich would probably be the coach instead).
As you said, the deteriorating front office relationship and bland playcalling toward the end of 2020 were troubling signs. On the other hand, it is promising he was able to successfully develop both Wentz and Foles (and Hurts, to an extent).
I think this is a good move for Lawrence, but maybe not as much for the team as a whole. I’m not totally against the hiring and believe there are pros/cons, but I would have personally preferred Caldwell
Good points. I’d be hopeful that Pederson has reacquired his passion, if need be, and at the very least improved his methods. Even so, if that as the best case scenario is what happened, I’d still be wary of his working under Baalke and doing this all over again. I think Khan is trying to do good by being patient, but he’s got learn when to cut someone else loose.
AGAIN I ASK:
Pederson was listed as “interview requested” in the Minnesota Vikings HC search.
He was never interviewed by them.
Were the Vikings ever seriously interested?
Did the Vikings change their minds?
Was Pederson ever interested?
Did Pederson decline the interview request?
I imagine most of the Jag players were hoping Byron would get the job. Let’s see if Pederson can make it to mid season without the players complaining that he is too demanding.
Doug didn’t have that reputation in Philly. Seemed like the players really liked him.
The complaint was his offense was stale. He needs a good play caller.
I wouldn’t be shocked at all to see the Jags becoming the next Bengals with a quick turnaround. He will make Lawrence a stud in Year 2 and going forward. Jags will have a window when they will BE the team in the AFC South! Fear the Jags BABY, fear the Jags!!!!
No one needs to fear the Jags until they have a schedule where they host the Colts 8 times a season.
Let’s face it, this scandal will all be cya, swept under the rug by the NFL, and mainly forgotten in a few years by the fans. Just like the Snyder, Gruden investigations and blackballing of Kaepernick. The networks and major advertisers will largely ignore it in a few weeks because the NFL is their cash cow. The players and coaches can do very little because the NFL is a monopoly and is allowed special exempt status. Besides, do anything against the status quo and you’re run out of the league.
Basically, the NFL hierarchy and NFL owners have raised a large one-finger salute to anyone who wants change and disagrees with the un-written rules and policies of their little clubhouse.
If Baalke and Spielman don’t interfere with how Pedersen runs his team on the field and allows pedersen to “buy some the groceries” pedersen should thrive. Also remember pedersen is from the Mike Holmgren coaching tree as he played under him and also the Andy Reid coaching tree
Spielman has had mostly good results in Minnesota. He’s been missing the last bit of oomph to raise them over the bar, but I’d much rather see him contributing to the draft than Baalke. Let’s not forget the Eagles’ spending spree and busy trade schedule ahead of their Super Bowl-for a year or two, they had the most complete team in the league for Pederson to coach. He’s going to need a good bit of help here to bring up the roster that Meyer and Baalke wasted valuable picks on.
Spielman is responsible for paying Kirk Cousins $250 million guaranteed to lose important games. Not the worst GM in football but no hero. Don’t know much about Baalke but outside of Pedersen it all sounds pretty dysfunctional.
Like I said, mostly good. Cousins is not solely responsible for losing those games, and has had surprisingly good individual results as a player. Again, they could have used a bit more in the end, but Spielman did make Minnesota at least competitive, which would be a huge jump from where Jacksonville is now.
Baalke is possibly the worst person that could be in charge down there, in my opinion (and apparently in many others’).
Cousins is a notorious stat padder and a garbage time legend. When it’s time to beat down on losing teams, Cousins is your man. In rough sailing, he loses it. Cousins won his only college bowl game in quintuple overtime after the other team had blown the opportunity to win four times (as had Michigan State/Cousins). Betting the franchise on such a guy is exactly why Spielman is not to be trusted.
Congrats Dougy, you’ll never buy a beer in Philly ever again.