JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Doug Pederson is out as Jacksonville’s head coach after the franchise’s “best team assembled” won just four games.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Pederson on Monday, a day after a 26-23 loss at Indianapolis in overtime. It was the team’s 18th loss in its last 23 games. But Khan kept general manager Trent Baalke, a questionable decision that surely will affect who will become Jacksonville’s next coach.
Khan made the move with one year remaining on Pederson’s contract. The decision came more than five months after Khan stood in front of coaches and players and
“Winning now” was Khan’s edict as training camp opened and after he committed nearly half a billion dollars to to long-term deals in the offseason. It was the most expensive stretch of roster building in franchise history.
And Khan has gotten little, if any, return on his investment.
“Doug is an accomplished football man who will undoubtedly enjoy another chapter in his impressive NFL career, and I will be rooting for Doug and his wife Jeannie when that occasion arrives,” Khan said in a statement. “As much as Doug and I both wish his experience here in Jacksonville would have ended better, I have an obligation first and foremost to serve the best interests of our team and especially our fans, who faithfully support our team and are overdue to be rewarded. In that spirit, the time to summon new leadership is now.
“I strongly believe it is possible next season to restore the winning environment we had here not long ago. I will collaborate with General Manager Trent Baalke and others, within and close to our organization, to hire a leader who shares my ambition and is ready to seize the extraordinary opportunity we will offer in Jacksonville.”
The Jaguars (4-13) ended up with their 10th losing season in Khan’s 13 years as owner. Now, Khan will hire his sixth head coach; current NFL offensive coordinators Ben Johnson (Detroit) and Liam Coen (Tampa Bay) should top the list. But would they even agree to work with Baalke, whose draft picks have been mostly suspect and his latest free-agent class is among the worst in franchise history?
Pederson became the fifth NFL head coach fired this season, joining Robert Saleh (New York Jets), Dennis Allen (New Orleans), Matt Eberflus (Chicago) and Jerod Mayo (New England).
Pederson finished 9-8 in his first two campaigns in Jacksonville and made the playoffs in his first year. He became the first coach in franchise history to start with back-to-back winning seasons and was a welcome relief following Urban Meyer’s 13-game tenure that was filled with dysfunction.
But Pederson’s injury-riddled team went after spending nearly two months atop the AFC South. He thought getting Lawrence healthy and revamping his defensive staff would change the team’s fortunes. Neither made a difference.
More damning: Pederson failed to develop Lawrence or create a team identity, handed play-calling duties to Press Taylor and showed no urgency to try to fix a defense that regressed under new coordinator Ryan Nielsen.
The 56-year-old Pederson went 23-30 with Jacksonville, a far cry from the Super Bowl-winning coach Khan thought he hired in February 2021.
A longtime backup quarterback in the league, Pederson spent part of his coaching career working under Andy Reid in Kansas City. Pederson came to Jacksonville after a one-year coaching hiatus that followed a five-year stint as Philadelphia’s head coach, where he led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl title in 2018.
With backup Nick Foles under center, the Eagles beat Tom Brady and New England thanks partly to a trick play called “Philly Special.” That victory is Pederson’s defining coaching moment.
His tenure with Jacksonville was mostly forgettable. Sure, there was the come-from-behind stunner over the Los Angeles Chargers in the AFC wild-card round in January 2023. Lawrence rallied the Jaguars from a 27-0 deficit to win 31-30. Otherwise, Pederson was fairly pedestrian.
His ultimate undoing came in close games, with Jacksonville going 3-10 in one-score contests this season. Whether that’s talent or coaching is debatable. Regardless, Pederson got little public support from players down the stretch, a clear sign that the locker room was ready to go in a different direction.
Now Khan has to find the right coach to get Lawrence — and the rest of the team — to another level.
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