Entering Week 13 competing for the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Jaguars tumbled to a disappointing 9-8 finish. This led to Doug Pederson canning most of his defensive staff. As for Pederson and the offensive staff, this figures to be an important season — especially now that the Jags extended Trevor Lawrence at a record-tying rate.
Lawrence is now tied to a five-year, $275MM deal, but the contract comes after the former No. 1 overall pick did not build on his late-season 2022 success. Injuries played a central role in Lawrence’s underwhelming third season, but the heat is on Pederson and OC-turned-play-caller Press Taylor.
After Pederson served as the Jags’ primary play-caller in 2022, he handed the reins to Taylor before the ’23 season. A former Pederson assistant in Philadelphia, Taylor — the younger brother of Bengals HC Zac Taylor — had not been a primary play-caller previously. Pederson has not said if he will reclaim those duties this season, but Shad Khan made an interesting comment about the situation. Referencing a New York Times piece alluding to the third-year HC’s job security, the owner said, “If I were in that situation, I’d want my hands on the wheel.”
“Yeah, I have an opinion,” Khan said, via the Associated Press’ Mark Long, on the Jags’ play-calling situation. “But I don’t want to tell people ‘We need to do it’ because then things don’t work out, they look at me and say, ‘We did it because you wanted it.‘ … Doug, he’s empowered. I’m going to let him decide.”
Khan did not indicate this is a do-or-die season for Pederson, though his hypothetical comment regarding the situation could certainly be perceived as the owner having a preference for the head coach taking back the reins. GM Trent Baalke also was believed to be taking a close look at the state of the offense during the season’s final weeks.
The Jags only dropped from 10th to 13th in scoring (DVOA placed Jacksonville’s offense 18th) between 2022 and 2023, but after a strong finish covered for a sluggish start in Pederson’s Jacksonville debut, his 2023 follow-up’s fortunes nosedived in the second half. Lawrence finished in the same QBR position (17th) as 2022, but after the team gave the fourth-year passer a $55MM-per-year deal, it stands to reason it expects a jump from the former elite prospect.
If Taylor lands another shot as the team’s play-caller, it will certainly come with high stakes for the 36-year-old assistant. Pederson showed enough confidence in Taylor he wanted to promote him to OC in Philly following the 2020 season. Eagles ownership disagreed, leading to Pederson’s dismissal two years after Super Bowl LII.
When addressing the events of last season as a whole, Khan called it an “organizational failure.” The Jags, who also made franchise-tagged defender Josh Allen the NFL’s second-highest-paid edge rusher, have one 10-win season during Khan’s 12-year ownership tenure.
“Injuries are a part of the game. We had some of those injuries, but I think it’s organizational failure that it happened,” Khan said. “All of these players I talked to, it’s like how could this happen? What happened?
“For me, it’s really a cause for self-reflection and then something good to come out of it because we just can’t have that this year.”
Pederson’s first season gave Khan some cover for his disastrous Urban Meyer decision, one he backtracked on in less than a year. Although Khan fired Meyer and 2012 hire Mike Mularkey after one season, the Jags owner gave Doug Marrone four-plus seasons and Gus Bradley nearly four years despite the latter’s tenure producing a historically bad .226 win percentage. But the Jags have been one of the NFL’s worst franchises under Khan’s ownership.
The Pederson-Lawrence partnership represents a gateway to potential contender status, and were Khan to fire the former Super Bowl-winning HC, it would tie the franchise quarterback — the only one left standing with his original team from 2021’s five-QB first round — to a third offensive scheme in five seasons. This is a rather deep AFC, however, and it will be challenging for the Jaguars to infiltrate the conference’s top tier. The team will hope a Lawrence leap can elevate the roster, one that added two new wide receivers (Gabe Davis, first-rounder Brian Thomas Jr.) and veteran linemen in Arik Armstead and Mitch Morse, this offseason.
Lots of GM’s, HC’s, QB’s 1st round picks while Shad has owned the team for well over a decade. It’s his fault, not the other people’s fault.
From google:
Khan will join former New Orleans Saints owner John Mecom in reaching that milestone in 141 games, including playoffs. The only owner to reach 100 losses quicker is former Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse, whose hapless Bucs needed just 140 games to hit triple-digit losses.
No comments about his son Tony wearing a neck brace at the draft yet?
As a Jaguars Fan since 1995, I just do not see or perceive much passion or fire when watching this Team.
If you can get your money from the Jags you should take it – otherwise get out of town as this owner doesn’t have a clue.
AEW & Jags: all that talent run by buffoons
If you want to improve something, the last thing to do would be to let Baalke take a closer look at it.
My thoughts exactly.
As a Jags fan there’s a part of me that isn’t that upset with Khan for all their struggles the past decade. He does everything you want from an owner…he invests in the team, he clearly cares on some level and doesn’t just view ownership as a shiny toy/title, and he doesn’t meddle/overstep with football decisions and lets the football people do the job he hired them for. The ironic thing is that last part is why they have struggled for so long.
He’s too patient with front offices/coaches that should’ve been let go already…or his advisors are giving him bad advice. Bradley and Marrone should have never stuck around as long as they did, David Caldwell lasted too long as GM, and bringing in Tom Coughlin/Urban Meyer was doomed to fail from the start and was clearly an attempt at just grabbing a big name to put butts in the seat. While I think the jury is still out on if Pederson will prove to be a good hire, Baalke is another “should’ve been fired years ago” type. And the unfortunate part about this situation is that its likely to continue. Short of a surprise playoff run, I can very much see Pederson being fired/resigning after this year and Baalke being retained only for Baalke to mess it up again before he finally gets canned. Like I don’t want to say Khan should sell the team but the man does need to get some better people advising him.
I pretty much agree. I generally have a favorable opinion of Khan. I think his heart is in the right place and he truly does want to win, not just make money. Maybe he finally learns from past mistakes.
I agree as well. He’s made some bad hires, but has generally been patient with them. Perhaps more than necessary, as his judgement of capability seems off. Meyer seemed like an exasperated reaction to that-after doing it “the right way” for so long, or trying to, Khan went after something shiny. The Coughlin hire, though it hails from the complete opposite end of the spectrum than Meyer, kind of alludes to that. Coughlin heralded back to the most successful days of the Jaguars, before his Giants accomplishments. Meyer was a big name who, despite my longtime disfavorable opinion of his actual coaching ability and leadership, was a recognized champion in the NCAA. Everyone and their mother knew that it (Meyer particularly; Coughlin has professional success prior at least) was a bad idea, but Khan was determined. Baalke, for his part, seemed to use that as an in to weasel his way into a front office again, after attaching to the remains of the Caldwell regime long enough to slide into his place.
It seems to me that Khan means well, but is too easily manipulated by his contacts. The way that Baalke fell upward after Caldwell’s dismissal seems to confirm that, in my very possibly misguided opinion. Tony Khan had a lot of responsibility in that organization as well, just like Kraft’s Patriots or Jones’ Cowboys or any other numerous NFL examples. I don’t know where he fits, though. I don’t know how capable he is or isn’t though. Without knowing the inner dynamics of the Jags’ situation, it’s impossible to say. However, it would be difficult to run counter to the owner’s son, even in a well run organization. That doesn’t mean that offspring of owners can’t he good at what they do, and valuable assets (like Stephen Jones, for example), but it does add another layer to consider. Of course, I also have the opinion that it is difficult to run multiple sports teams, and that it hurts multi-team owners to try and do so-even hypothetically honest examples.
“If I were in that situation, I’d want my hands on the wheel.”
I may be mistaken but I think Shad grew up in a country where they drive on the left side of the road.