By the time Doug Pederson‘s Jaguars tenure came to an end after the regular season concluded, no one around the league was surprised. Another head coaching opportunity is not on the horizon at this point, but Pederson is still a name to watch during the waning stages of the hiring cycle. 
The former Eagles Super Bowl winner is drawing interest as a potential offensive coordinator, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports. He adds that it remains to be seen at this point if that feeling will wind up being mutual. Pederson was out of coaching in 2021 prior to taking the Jaguars’ HC gig, so he could opt to once again take a break before re-entering the coaching market.
The 57-year-old spent four years as a high school head coach before receiving his first NFL opportunity with the Eagles in 2009. Pederson worked his way up to quarterbacks coach before following Andy Reid to Kansas City as the Chiefs’ OC. That three-year spell was followed by a return to the Eagles as their head coach from 2016-20.
Pederson amassed a record of 42-31-1 in Philadelphia. His three winning campaigns with the Eagles and Super Bowl pedigree led to high expectations upon arrival in Jacksonville. During his first season in Duval County, the Jags managed a 9-8 record and a wild-card victory. Continued development from quarterback Trevor Lawrence and an elevation to the status of AFC contender was seen as feasible as a result.
Instead, much of the past two seasons did not go according to plan for Pederson’s team. Missed time from Lawrence was one of the factors influencing underwhelming showings on offense, while major changes to the coaching staff on the other side of the ball last offseason did not produce the desired effect. Amidst reported clashes with then-general manager Trent Baalke and a 2-9 start to the campaign, a bye week firing appeared to be on the table in 2024. Pederson survived the rest of the season, but he was dismissed on Black Monday.
The Jags have since (in rather unorthodox fashion) hired Liam Coen as their new head coach, and while their offensive coordinator position is unfilled, Pederson is obviously not a candidate. Several other OC vacancies are in place around the league, though, and he could have options if he elects to interview for one or more of them in the near future. It will be interesting to see if he does so or decides to wait for 2026 to continue his career.
I’m sorta new to football (2021 started getting really into it) but I never understood this. Why do people want to hire this guy as an OC at all? Same goes for Arthur Smith. If my team hired them I’d be pissed.
First of all, welcome to being really into football and congratulations on not being born a Jets fan like me. Pederson as OC is definitely a weird seeming idea in this moment, and I wouldn’t be thrilled. To answer your question, I would say a couple of things:
1) There just aren’t that many dream candidates to go around. In a perfect world, you would have a guy who’s worked in modern dynamic schemes AND a guy you’re sure can run a whole side of the ball, from scheme to player development and evaluation to managing half a dozen coaches. Most of the guys you’re sure can do that are already employed, often as head coaches, so sometimes you have to settle for one or the other. Teams are scared of hiring someone full blown incompetent. And if you’re hiring an OC from one of the really good offensive programs, he’s probably never been the lead play caller, so there’s a gamble there. Say what you will about Pederson as a play caller, but he’s a well liked guy with a long track record including a Super Bowl, so you wouldn’t be worried that he’s not up to the leadership responsibilities. And a team with a first time head coach usually wants guys with head coach experience on staff.
2) Remember the Peter Principle, which says that people in hierarchies tend to rise to the level where they’re incompetent. This is very true in football. Lots of bad head coaches are still good coordinators, lots of bad coordinators are still good position coaches, etc. Some guys are also torpedoed by personnel problems. I think Arthur Smith is a good example of both those things. I think he’s a good coordinator. He was terrible at some head coach responsibilities in Atlanta (like being godawful with the media), but he was also undercut by maybe the worst quarterback situation in football. He did great work in Tennessee, and considering he had the cheapest quarterback room in football and no stars on offense in Pittsburgh, I think he acquitted himself solidly there, too. Maybe a team thinks a guy like Pederson can do better work as just a coordinator without all the added burdens of being head coach. That seems to be playing out for Kliff Kingsbury.
Peterson is a former QB spent lots of time as an assistant to Reid. Won a SB with the eagles as their coach he just so happened to go to a team with crappy ownership and an incompetent GM. Bottom line pederson knows football. I think he’d make a phenomenal OC somewhere.
Just look at what the Steelers had with LeBeau. He failed as a head coach w the bengals goes back to the Steelers as DC and as often regarded as one of the best to ever do it as DC
Spags is like that now. His one try as head coach went terribly, but he’s a great coordinator and people love him as a person.
Some guys are just much better coordinators than they do head coaches so them failing as the top guy doesn’t dull their luster as a competent coordinator under a better head coach. What drives me nuts is when teams hire head coaches that have flopped several times before, like why will this time suddenly be different.