The Jaguars switched their primary play-caller just before last season. At least, it was revealed they would do so shortly before their 2023 slate began. The team’s performance — particularly down the stretch last year — has made this topic one of the top issues coming out of Jacksonville this summer.
Days before Week 1, Doug Pederson may or may not know where the call sheet will reside Sunday. The third-year Jags HC said Wednesday (via ESPN.com’s Michael DiRocco) he has not decided if he or OC Press Taylor will call plays.
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Pederson did say Taylor will be on the sideline, as opposed to in the press box, on gamedays. But the former Super Bowl-winning HC is either leaving the audience in suspense or is taking this rather important decision down to the wire. Pederson served as the Jags’ primary play-caller in 2022 but handed the reins to Taylor last year.
As of the team’s preseason opener, Taylor still held this role. However, Shad Khan injected himself into the proceedings earlier this offseason. Addressing a report that indicated Pederson could be on the hot seat, the owner said he would want to call plays were he in that situation. Khan did not confirm Pederson was on the hot seat, but it did appear the owner would prefer the former Eagles play-caller take the Jags gig back.
Were Pederson truly on the hot seat, it would be odd if he entrusted Taylor once again. Then again, Eagles ownership disagreeing with Pederson’s plan to promote Taylor to OC was among the reasons the HC was forced out of Philadelphia.
Trevor Lawrence‘s injuries hindered Taylor’s first full-time play-calling effort last season, but the team plummeting from 8-3 to 9-8 and out of the playoffs clearly dropped the third-year OC’s stock. Pederson certainly suffered from the collapse as well. Even though the freefall led to DC Mike Caldwell and most of his staff being shown the door, Jags GM Trent Baalke took a long look at the state of the offense as last season deteriorated. It would be interesting, then, to see Taylor back in the role.
Jacksonville made personnel changes on offense, swapping out Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones with Gabriel Davis and Brian Thomas Jr. The team also changed centers, signing longtime Bills blocker Mitch Morse. We will soon find out if another key change is coming.
That can only possibly bode well. At some point this coaching staff is going to stop getting credit for merely being more stable than Urban Meyer’s.
Shad Khan calling plays? That would easily be the most entertaining NFL blooper film of all time.
Surely this is just gamesmanship right? Right? Like no way you’re a couple of days out from the start of the season and the team doesn’t know who will be calling plays…because if so then there is no shot this ends well.
I actually think the entertainment value of Jag games would soar if we got to watch Pederson and Taylor playing “rock, paper, scissors” on the sidelines.
Why not replace Taylor? If they do not trust his play-calling?
Or is he just a world beater at everything else except play-calling?
They do not want to change the offense philosophy yet again. And The HC wants to keep Taylor. Those are the reasons.
There is so much to unpack here. and it seems too much disorganization that is needless.
The owner doesn’t seem to like Taylor. But… doesn’t want to over-ride the coach, out of fear of being proven wrong.
He’s basically said this multiple times in so many words. It’s really a strange situation.
It almost seems like the thinking in Jacksonville is “Well, we just paid Trevor $55MM so all our problems are now solved”.
Time for the Jaguars to Put Up or Shut Up !!! Time for Trevor to step up and earn that YUGE pay check !!!