PHILADELPHIA — First understand this: I like Doug Pederson. I’ve known him for 23 years. I think he’s a good coach. I’m happy for him and his family that the Jaguars hired him Thursday. He never should have been fired by the Eagles, and I can’t wait to see how he fares in Florida. He’s the NFL’s most endearing nerd. Go get ‘em, kid.
But also understand this: I’m astonished that Doug Pederson is back in the NFL as a head coach, entrusted with developing the most hyped quarterback since Dan Marino.
Then again, I was astonished the Eagles hired him in 2016, too. The similarities are stunning. Nobody wanted to coach the Eagles back then, because they had a flawed roster and a meddlesome owner. Nobody wants the Jags job, either, for largely the same reasons, only amplified.
He’s gone through three hiring cycles — 2016, 2021, and 2022 — two of them as a Super Bowl winner. Once again, Pederson is everybody’s last choice; everybody’s safety school. In 2016, he was Andy Reid’s water boy. Today, he’s the not-so-young coach who oversaw the collapse of Carson Wentz.
Nevertheless, Pederson is getting Trevor Lawrence. This couldn’t have been Jacksonville’s dream scenario.
Pederson got the Jags’ first interview, on Dec. 30, while almost everybody else was still working; he was out of football and on his fishing boat in 2020. But Colts coordinator Matt Eberflus and Bucs OC Byron Leftwich both got second interviews before Pederson, and Packers OC Nathaniel Hackett had a second interview scheduled for last week. Hackett took the job in Denver. Eberflus took the job in Chicago. Leftwich reportedly doesn’t want to work with general manager Trent Baalke, and Leftwich could become a top candidate in New Orleans, one of the three remaining vacancies.
The Jacksonville situation has the same vibe as the Eagles in 2016, when they missed out on Adam Gase, then Ben McAdoo, and then were spurned by Tom Coughlin.
Pederson proved to be the best hire of the 2016 cycle. All six other head coaches hired that year were fired before Pederson. That said, Pederson was probably the least-qualified hire in 2016.
Today, he is, by far, the most-qualified hire. More so than new Raiders coach Josh McDaniel, the Patriots’ longtime offensive innovator. More so than Brian Daboll, who will try to salvage Giants quarterback Daniel Jones the way he salvaged Bills star Josh Allen.
It’s not that Pederson is Knute Rockne 2.0, but he can do the job.
He’s very good at understanding offensive and defensive schemes and theory. He’s pretty good at understanding the league’s talent. He’s an adequate game-planner and in-game coach. He inspires his players and he understands the fans.
But, unlike his pompous predecessor, Urban Meyer, Pederson’s real gift lies in making connections with players, coaches, and front-office brass, as well as janitors and secretaries. Pederson possesses a vast well of “emotional intelligence.” He’s a big, affable presence who looks you in the eye and remembers your name. He’s the anti-Urban.
He also has a miracle to his name. Pederson rescued a franchise, and he won a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback and a decimated roster.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t come with warts. There were plenty of reasons it took the Jaguars 35 days and 14 first or second interviews before they settled on Pederson.
He lost on purpose
This isn’t exactly true, but it sure smelled like it. In the 2020 finale against Washington, Pederson replaced productive starter Jalen Hurts and inserted third-string quarterback Nate Sudfeld, who promptly gave the game away. A conspiracy theory surfaced that the order came from the front office — to tank and improve their draft status — but that never held water. An Eagles win in that game would have put the Giants in the playoffs, and the Giants, as everyone knows, are the NFL’s flagship franchise. No, Pederson didn’t lose on purpose; he was just indifferent to winning, and he wanted to reward Sudfeld for his four years of service in Philadelphia. Pederson wasn’t gaming the system. He was just dumb.
Six league sources called me within 24 hours of that game to tell me that, if the Eagles fired him, no self-respecting NFL franchise would ever hire Pederson: “I don’t know how he comes back from this,” one said.
They were kind of right. He got hired by the Jaguars, after all.
Wentz regressed
Pederson spent his last three seasons in Philly trying to recapture Wentz’s form from 2017, when he made the Pro Bowl. Injuries hindered this pursuit, but Wentz was healthy in 2020, when his league-worst performance single-handedly sabotaged the Eagles’ chances of returning to the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season — and was the main reason Pederson got fired.
He couldn’t win without help
After the 2017 Super Bowl season, offensive coordinator Frank Reich became the head coach in Indianapolis and quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo got the OC job in Minnesota, then in Jacksonville. With a young Wentz and strong offensive and defensive lines, the Eagles looked like a dynasty in the making. Pederson claimed Super Bowl runs would be “the new norm.”
It was not. The offense never functioned as well again, mainly due to Wentz.
Pederson vs. the front office
Through 2018, Pederson had strong relationships with general manager Howie Roseman, owner Jeffrey Lurie, and Wentz. However, a disappointing 2019 season emboldened Roseman and Lurie to manipulate Pederson’s coaching staff, which Pederson resented. Pederson failed to successfully “manage up” — to adeptly control his bosses.
Pederson vs. Wentz
The second-year, blue-chip quarterback Lawrence is all that matters in Jacksonville, just as a blue-chip QB in Wentz was all that mattered in Philadelphia for four seasons. Pederson is a former NFL quarterback and a former quarterbacks coach, but he blew it with Wentz.
After his second season, Pederson seldom held Wentz accountable for his insubordinate behavior on the field and his dismissive, arrogant personality off the field. As such, Wentz showed his coaches little respect: He refused to incorporate certain plays, he would audible into improper plays at the line of scrimmage, and wouldn’t run plays properly. He came to despise Pederson as 2020 progressed, then ghosted Pederson when he got benched.
Pederson’s handling of Wentz does not qualify him to nurture Lawrence, with whom Pederson spoke hours before Pederson was hired, a league source said. Then again, Lawrence seems stabler and less insecure than Wentz. He’s also much more talented. Maybe Pederson will get it right this time.
Dougie & Nick
Pederson won virtually all of his big games with Nick Foles as his quarterback, not Wentz. He’s never won anything important with a young quarterback. In fact, he wasn’t hired in Philadelphia to develop Wentz. He was hired to get things back on the right track with Sam Bradford, who’d just signed an expensive, two-year contract extension. Bradford was traded to Minnesota just before the season began because Teddy Bridgewater shredded his knee; otherwise, Wentz would have played little for Pederson as a rookie.
Kids are killing it
Owners lately have coveted the next young star as their head coach. Sean McVay, 36, is headed to his second Super Bowl with the Rams. Kyle Shanahan, 42, came a whisper from his second with the 49ers. Zac Taylor, 38, is taking Cincinnati to its first Super Bowl since 1989, when Taylor was 5 years old. Everybody’s looking for the next young genius.
Pederson’s 54, almost old enough to be their father. He’s certainly not young, and no one will ever accuse him of being a genius. Here’s hoping he outsmarts them all.
Again.
