Jaguars fire coach Doug Pederson after ‘best team assembled’ wins four games
Doug Pederson is out as Jacksonville’s head coach after the franchise’s “best assembled team” won just four games.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Pederson on Monday, a day after a 26-23 overtime loss in Indianapolis. It was the team’s 18th loss in the last 23 games. But Khan retained general manager Trent Baalke, a questionable decision that will certainly impact who becomes Jacksonville’s next coach.
Khan made the move with one year left on Pederson’s contract. The decision came more than five months after Khan stood before coaches and players and called this the “best team ever assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars.”
“Win now” was Khan’s edict as training camp opened and after he committed nearly half a billion dollars to sign quarterback Trevor Lawrence, passing over rusher Josh Hines-Allen and cornerback Tyson Campbell to long-term deals this offseason. It was the most expensive piece of roster building in franchise history.
And Khan has received little or no return on his investment.
“Doug is a veteran football man who will undoubtedly enjoy a new chapter in his impressive NFL career, and I will support Doug and his wife Jeannie when that opportunity arises,” Khan said in a statement. “As much as Doug and I wish his experience here in Jacksonville would have ended better, I have a duty first and foremost to serve the best interests of our team and especially our fans, who loyally support our team and are belatedly rewarded . . In that spirit, now is the time to convene new leadership.
“I strongly believe that next season it will be possible to restore the winning environment we had here not so long ago. I will work 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 provide in Jacksonville.”
The Jaguars (4-13) finished 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 be at the top of the list. But would they even agree to work with Baalke, whose draft pick was mostly suspect and his latest free-agent class is among the worst in franchise history?
Pederson became the fifth NFL head coach to be 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 back-to-back winning seasons and was a welcome relief after Urban Meyer’s 13-game tenure, which was filled with dysfunction.
But Pederson’s injury-plagued team went 1-5 in 2023 and missed the postseason 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.
Even more damning, Pederson failed to develop Lawrence or create a team identity, handed play-calling duties to Press Taylor despite Khan making his wishes known, and showed no urgency in trying to rebuild a defense that was declining under the 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 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 defeated Tom Brady and New England, thanks in part to a trick play called “Philly Special.” That win is Pederson’s defining coaching moment.
His tenure in Jacksonville was largely 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 downfall came in close games, with Jacksonville going 3-10 in one-score games this season. Whether that is talent or coaching is debatable. Regardless, Pederson received little public support from players down the stretch, a clear sign that the locker room was ready to move in a different direction.
Now Khan must find the right coach to take Lawrence – and the rest of the team – to the next level.