Jacksonville’s roller coaster of a coaching search finally came to an end on Thursday night as owner Shad Khan announced the hiring of Doug Pederson to replace Urban Meyer. Pederson was previously the head coach in Philadelphia from 2016-20.
It’s hard to see past how disastrous this search truly was. Jacksonville fired Meyer 50 days ago, getting a head start on the coaching search in just Week 15. But that time was mostly wasted.
Pederson was the very first candidate to interview, but he was the last candidate to get a second interview. It was more than a month from the time he first met with the Jags to the time he was announced as the coach, and it’s also apparent that he wasn’t the first choice for the job. The team was reportedly deep in negotiations with Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich before an impasse over the retention of general manager Trent Baalke killed those conversations.
Still, despite the way the search played out, the Jags may have gotten a very good coach in Pederson. Here are a few things you need to know about Jacksonville’s new headman.
