HEADLINES

Doug Pederson

Interim HC Bevell Won’t Remain With Jaguars

February 12th, 2022 at 6:11pm CST by Ely Allen

Darrell Bevell‘s tenure in Jacksonville was a short one. With the hiring of Doug Pederson being announced earlier this month, it appears that Bevell will not remain in northern Florida as a part of Pederson’s coaching staff, according to Aaron Wilson of Pro Football Network. 

Brought onto Urban Meyer‘s staff to be offensive coordinator a little over a year ago, Bevell was tasked with serving as the interim head coach for the Jaguars’ final four games of the 2021 season after Meyer was relieved of his duties. Over those four games, Jacksonville recorded one win and three losses to finish the season 3-14.

This wasn’t Bevell’s first tenure as an interim head coach. Just last season, Bevell coached the final five games of the Lions’ 2020 season after the firing of Matt Patricia, winning one game in Detroit, as well, for a career record of 2-7 as a head coach (all in an interim capacity).

Bevell will likely return to his day job as an offensive coordinator. While the Jaguars’ offense finished last in the NFL this season in multiple categories, Bevell’s seen success as a play caller in Seattle, finishing as a top-ten scoring offense in five of his seven seasons with the Seahawks, including a top-four scoring offense in 2015. Bevell’s first gig calling plays came in Minnesota where he spend five years leading a Vikings’ offense to varying results, including a 2009 offense that finished second in scoring, featuring Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, and rookie wide receiver Percy Harvin.

According to Wilson, Bevell has received interest from multiple NFL teams and his moving on from Jacksonville will allow him to pursue those opportunities.

Jaguars To Hire Mike Caldwell As DC

February 11th, 2022 at 3:28pm CST by Adam La Rose

FRIDAY: Although the Jaguars interviewed former Dolphins secondary coach Gerald Alexander for their defensive coordinator job this week, Caldwell will indeed land the position. The Jags are hiring the Buccaneers’ inside linebackers coach for their top defensive spot, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. This will be Caldwell’s first DC gig, but the former NFL linebacker has been in coaching since 2008. He and Pederson broke into coaching together on Andy Reid‘s Eagles staffs in the late 2000s. The two were also each on the Eagles’ roster in 1999, Reid’s first year with the team.

TUESDAY: The name first associated with new head coach Doug Pederson has landed the role of defensive coordinator on his first Jaguars staff. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the team is close to hiring Mike Caldwell as their new defensive coordinator (Twitter link).

Caldwell was named as a top candidate for the DC role soon after Pederson’s hiring. The 50-year old spent five years with the Eagles working with their linebacking corps. He was gone by the time Pederson became Philadelphia’s HC, though, so the only connection between the two is the overlap in their playing careers there in 1999.

Caldwell also has experience as the LBs coach with the Cardinals, Jets and Buccaneers. His three years in Tampa Bay saw him oversee one of, if not the best, tandems in the league at that position in Devin White and Lavonte David. That success, including a Super Bowl championship last season, earned him an interview with the Ravens for their DC vacancy.

Now, Caldwell will take on a coordinator role for the first time in his career. It’s the first to be filled under Pederson, as the team is still in search of a new OC, and it was recently announced that former special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen will not be returning.

Jaguars Plan To Hire Jim Bob Cooter

February 9th, 2022 at 3:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Former Lions offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter will be one of the key voices in charge of getting Trevor Lawrence on track next season. The Jaguars are hiring the young assistant, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

Cooter will serve as the passing-game coordinator under Doug Pederson in Jacksonville. This will be Cooter’s most notable role since his time as Detroit’s OC (2015-18). Previously, the 37-year-old staffer worked as a consultant with the Eagles.

The Lions hired Cooter to be Matthew Stafford‘s position coach in 2014 and quickly bumped him up to OC. The Jim Caldwell-era assistant stuck around for one season under Matt Patricia but was not retained for the 2019 campaign. Cooter spent the next two seasons as the Jets’ running backs coach.

Ex-Eagles coach Press Taylor was also in the mix for this job, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane (on Twitter). A former Pederson lieutenant, Taylor spent the 2021 season with the Colts.

Pederson called plays with the Eagles and said he will do so with the Jags as well. The Jags attempted to interview Texans assistant Pep Hamilton for their OC vacancy, but new Houston HC Lovie Smith promoted him. The Jags have hired ex-Chargers HC Mike McCoy as their quarterbacks coach but do not employ a nominal OC yet. For now, Pederson, McCoy and Cooter will be in charge of developing Lawrence.

2022 NFL Head Coaching Search Tracker

February 6th, 2022 at 10:15pm CST by Zachary Links

Last year, seven NFL teams opted to make a head coaching change. Sean Payton stepping away from the Saints created nine full-time vacancies available this year.

Listed below are the head coaching candidates that have been linked to each of the teams with vacancies, along with their current status. If and when other teams decide to make head coaching changes, they’ll be added to this list. Here is the current breakdown:

Updated 2-7-22 (1:45pm CT)

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

Houston Texans

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

Miami Dolphins

Minnesota Vikings

New Orleans Saints

New York Giants

Coaching Rumors: Saints, Texans, McDaniel, Giants, Broncos

February 6th, 2022 at 8:12pm CST by Ely Allen

The Saints began their cycle of head coaching interviews this week, conducting meetings with the following candidates: former Eagles’ head coach Doug Pederson (1/30; hired by Jaguars), former Dolphins’ head coach Brian Flores (2/1), Lions’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn (2/2), their current special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi (2/3), their current defensive coordinator Dennis Allen (2/4), and Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy (2/6).

New Orleans also requested permission to interview Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. There were some early reports that permission had been granted, but that hasn’t been confirmed and nothing has been scheduled, as of yet. ESPN’s Saints’ reporter Mike Triplett also mentioned that current offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael was offered an opportunity to interview for the position, but Carmichael declined. Despite being a part of Sean Payton‘s staff since Payton’s tenure in New Orleans began back in 2006, it appears Carmichael has no interest in running the show in the Big Easy. Whether he has retirement or another destination in mind or he is just comfortable in his role, Carmichael will not be the Saints’ next head coach.

Here are a few more notes from the ongoing coaching searches and staff changes throughout the NFL, starting with the other head coaching vacancy:

  • Houston recently narrowed their list of head coaching candidates down to three: Brian Flores, former quarterback Josh McCown, and Eagles’ defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. Well, according to USA Today’s Josina Anderson, the Texans are now down to two candidates, with Gannon being informed Saturday that he will not be receiving the head coaching position, leaving Flores and McCown as the two remaining names.
  • New Dolphins’ head coach Mike McDaniel reportedly has interest in holding on to some of the defensive assistants currently under contract in Miami, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. This includes current defensive coordinator Josh Boyer, who followed Flores to Miami from New England. The lack of staff turnover would be a positive for a defensive unit that played well during the team’s seven-game win-streak in the back half of the season.
  • The Giants were able to add a piece to Brian Daboll‘s new staff while missing out on another today. ESPN’s Jordan Raanan tweeted out that Andy Bischoff will become the Giants’ new tight ends coach. Bischoff followed David Culley from Baltimore to Houston and will make the lateral move over from the Texans with their head coaching position still in the air. Unfortunately, the Giants did not get their running backs coach, as Bruce Feldman of The Athletic tweeted out that Deland McCullough has turned down Daboll’s offer, choosing instead to remain the running backs coach at Notre Dame, believing it gives him the best opportunity to eventually become a head coach.
  • New Broncos’ head coach Nathaniel Hackett is also looking to fill out his staff. The Broncos are planning to interview Jon Embree who most recently held the position of tight ends coach/assistant head coach in San Francisco. Embree parted ways with the Niners after being asked to take a 60 percent pay cut after San Francisco’s NFC Championship loss. The man who has coached George Kittle since he was drafted in 2017 would be a nice addition to Hackett’s system.

Candidates For Doug Pederson’s Jaguars Staff

February 4th, 2022 at 8:50am CST by Adam La Rose

With Doug Pederson in place as the new head coach of the Jaguars, his focus will now turn to building a staff. Two of the early candidates to be named for consideration are Colts offensive assistant Press Taylor and Buccaneers inside linebackers coach Mike Caldwell (Twitter link via Mike Garafolo of NFL Network).

[Related: Jaguars Hire Doug Pederson As HC]

Taylor has a connection to Pederson dating back to the latter’s time in Philadelphia. The 34-year-old’s NFL coaching career began with the Eagles in 2013. Two years later, he started working with the team’s quarterbacks, something that continued throughout his tenure. 2020 saw him add the title of passing game coordinator, though the Eagles ranked at the bottom of the league in most major passing categories that year. He spent this past season with former Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich in Indianapolis.

Caldwell would also be a familiar face for Pederson. He started on the sidelines with the Eagles, after an 11-year playing career as a middle linebacker (which included one year of overlap with Pederson during his playing days). He’s coached that position with the Eagles, Cardinals, Jets and, for the past three seasons, Bucs. The 50-year-old interviewed for the defensive coordinator vacancy in Baltimore earlier this month.

Garafolo doesn’t specify what position Taylor might be in consideration for, but notes that Caldwell is a candidate for what would be his first DC post. At a minimum, the hiring process for Pederson’s staff figures to be much more straightforward than that of the HC search.

Jaguars Hire Doug Pederson As HC

February 3rd, 2022 at 9:21pm CST by Sam Robinson

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.

Latest On Jaguars, Rick Spielman

February 3rd, 2022 at 2:38pm CST by Adam La Rose

There are more signs pointing towards Rick Spielman being hired by the Jaguars. New details, more importantly, indicate that the position he is close to taking on would outrank that of general manager Trent Baalke (Twitter link via CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones). 

[Related: Jaguars Interview Rick Spielman For Non-GM Position]

Specifically, Jones states that “momentum is gaining” for Spielman to “ultimately get a football position that reports directly to owner Shad Khan and is above [Baalke]”. That is an important distinction, given the fact that it was reported earlier this week that Spielman’s role was likely to be that of an assistant GM, allowing Baalke to be more ‘hands-on’ rather than handling day-to-day operations.

Earlier in the day, NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported that Spielman is headed for, essentially, a president role – something which many thought he would be transitioned to in Minnesota before he was fired. He adds that “there is progress being made” towards the hire becoming official. If it does, that would go a long way to easing concerns over the presence of Baalke, which has reportedly turned certain head coaching candidates away from the team.

On the point of the Jaguars’ HC vacancy, Garafolo also notes that Doug Pederson “would have been high on the Vikings’ list” if Spielman had remained in Minnesota. Between that, and the fact that Pederson has interviewed twice with Jacksonville, the Spielman hire becoming official would certainly point to the former Super Bowl champion getting the inside track for the HC job.

Jaguars To Conduct Second Interview With Doug Pederson

January 31st, 2022 at 5:23pm CST by Ben Levine

Doug Pederson is getting a second look in Jacksonville. According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo (via Twitter), Pederson will have his second interview with the Jaguars tomorrow.

[RELATED: Latest On Jaguars’ Head Coaching Search]

After being fired by the Eagles last year, Pederson was out of the NFL in 2021. The 54-year-old had spent five seasons in Philly, including a 2017 campaign where the Eagles won 13 regular season games en route to a Super Bowl championship. However, the Eagles averaged only seven wins per season during his other four campaigns, and he was canned following a 4-11-1 season in 2020.

After a year off, Pederson is turning into a popular name on the coaching circuit. The coach was connected to the previous vacancy with the Bears, and he’s since been listed as a candidate for the Saints job.

We heard earlier today that the Jaguars wouldn’t be able to interview Kevin O’Connell, who was emerging as a favorite, until after the Super Bowl. This news comes after the initial report of the team hiring Byron Leftwich as HC and Adrian Wilson as a replacement for Trent Baalke as general manager was refuted.

Doug Pederson Added As A Candidate For Saints’ HC Job

January 31st, 2022 at 12:49pm CST by Adam La Rose

The list of names being linked to the league’s newest head coaching vacancy continues to grow. The Saints have already completed an interview with Doug Pederson, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (Twitter link). 

[Related: Head Coaching Search Tracker]

Rapoport notes that the interview took place on Sunday, making Pederson the fifth candidate whose name has been attached to New Orleans. The 54-year-old has already been listed as a candidate for the jobs in Chicago, Denver, Minnesota and Jacksonville. While the level of interest on each side has differed in all four of those cases – the first two on that list have already hired their new coaches, and Pederson doesn’t appear to be a finalist for the other two openings – the buzz he is generating is certainly notable.

After being fired by the Eagles last year, Pederson was out of the NFL in 2021. There is certainly an interest around the league for the Super Bowl LII champion, though, including from the Saints, who are in catch-up mode relative to the other HC-needy teams.

In a related tweet, Rapoport details the schedule for the other Saints’ interviewees this week. The plan is, apparently, to meet with each of Brian Flores, Aaron Glenn and Dennis Allen in that order. The only exclusion from that list is Byron Leftwich, whom the team has put in an interview request for.

Here’s an updated look at the Saints’ coaching search:

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