Jacksonville Jaguars: 5 Coaches to Replace Urban Meyer
Doug Pederson: Former Head Coach, Philadelphia Eagles
Coming into this season many believed that Doug Pederson would be among the top of team’s lists of coaches they wanted to interview for head coaching vacancies at the end of the season. That has remained true as Doug Pederson is one of the hottest head coaching candidates currently on the market. It isn’t often that a head coach with a Super Bowl victory on his resume is available to be hired, especially a full season after he has been let go.
Doug Pederson was primarily a backup quarterback for 14 seasons with stints with the Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Cleveland Browns. He was most notable for his time as a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns.
He began his NFL coaching career in 2009 as an offensive quality control coach for his former head coach Andy Reid and his former team the Philadelphia Eagles. He was then promoted to the team’s quarterback coach position in 2011. Then when Reid was let go by the Eagles and hired by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2013, Pederson followed Reid and became the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator. During the 2015-16 season Pederson was given playcalling duties after a 1-5 start and the Chiefs won their last ten games.
Pederson was hired by Philadelphia Eagles the following season to be their head coach. They traded up in the 2016 NFL Draft for quarterback Carson Wentz. The Eagles traded their incumbent starter Sam Bradford to the Minnesota Vikings and started Wentz his rookie year despite the belief that he needed to be developed before starting.
Wentz took a massive leap during Pederson and his second season with the Eagles looking like the clear MVP for a majority of the season. However the Eagles had to turn to Nick Foles for the rest of the season after it was reported that Wentz tore his ACL in Week 14. Despite the change at quarterback Pederson was able to finish the season with a 13-3 record and coach this team to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
He would then coach the Eagles to winning records and playoff births over the next two seasons despite dealing with a multitude of injuries across their roster both seasons. But during the 2020-21 season it appears that the wheels had completely fallen off after the team drafted Jalen Hurts in the second round. Wentz had regressed to a point to where he looked like one of if not the worst quarterback in the league. A lot of the team’s dysfunction was blamed on Pederson and he was let go. After interviewing for the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator positon last offseason Pederson decided to take the year off from football.
Pederson has an outstanding resume that should land him a head coaching job this offseason. He had a 42-37-1 record as the Eagles head coach. Pederson also had a 4-2 playoff record as a head coach. Outside of his final season in Philadelphia, Pederson was been considered one of the better coaches in the league. Also having a Super Bowl victory over Tom Brady on his resume and knowing what it actually takes to win a Super Bowl is experience that little to no other cadidates are going to have and speak about.
Developing Trevor Lawrence is going to be priority number one for Pederson if he was to be hired bty the Jacksonville Jaguars. He showed with Carson Wentz that he can turn quarterbacks into stars. Unlike Wentz, it appears that Lawerence is a mentally strong player. The issue with Wentz in Philadelphia was that he felt like he had make big plays or play “hero ball” all the time because he was constantly look over his shoulder to Nick Foles or Jalen Hurts and his teams were constantly dealing with a multitude of injuries. Lawrence showed last season despite the dysfunction happening with his team that he could keep a calm compousre and role with the punches.
The situation with James Robinson and Travis Etienne could be seen as a positive in Pederson’s eyes. When he was with the Eagles he always ran a running back-by-committee. Even though he had star running backs like Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles, LeGarrette Blount, and Miles Sanders, Pederson still used multiple running backs. A backfield comprised of Robinson and Etienne would be a dream committee for Peterson. Also during his time in Philadelphia he was able to get great production out of his defenses as well when the offense wasn’t putting them in bad positions.
His experience alone should be enough for the Jacksonville Jaguars to hire him as their head coach. He can mold this young roster into a compettive football team and potentially contenders down the road. Pederson has a great track record of sustaining winning cultures which is something Jacksonville has lacked for a very long time.