After a seemingly endless 49-day search, the Jacksonville Jaguars finally have a head coach. Late on Thursday night, the team announced the hiring of former Philadelphia Eagles head coach and Super Bowl LII champion Doug Pederson to replace Urban Meyer.
Pederson coached in Philly from 2016 until he was fired after the 2020 season, winning a championship in Year 2 at the helm in 2017. In Pederson, the Jags get an experienced coach with a lot of bona fides regarding his tutelage of the quarterback position.
Quarterback Carson Wentz saw a major second-year jump to being an MVP caliber player under Pederson, and the Jaguars are hoping for a similar turnaround for quarterback Trevor Lawrence after a rough rookie season.
Pederson is known as a players’ coach, and he could prove to be a very good hire in Jacksonville. But it’s hard to talk about this move without addressing the elephant in the room: The search was an absolute disaster.
When the Jags fired Meyer, Pederson was the first candidate they interviewed nearly 50 days ago. He was just brought back in earlier this week for a second interview after the Jags hit a snag with their apparent first choice, Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich. Per reports, that snag was general manager Trent Baalke, who Leftwich wanted to be replaced with Arizona vice president of pro scouting Adrian Wilson.
Considering the Jaguars moved on from Leftwich, that seems to be a strong indication that Baalke will return. However, the Jags may be looking to bring in Pederson and former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman, who interviewed for a front-office position rumored to be above Baalke, as a package.
Regardless, don’t let the mess of a search distract you from the fact that when it was all said and done, the Jags ended up with a very strong candidate in Pederson. While there was a lot to like about Leftwich, Pederson (or even Jim Caldwell) were more qualified when considering head coaching experience, and may have been the better candidates all along.
If I had to grade this hire for the Jaguars, I’d probably give it somewhere in the high-B to low-A range. It wasn’t necessarily the most exciting option, but the Jags bring in a coach with a Super Bowl and a track record of developing quarterbacks. Given how dire things looked just a few days ago, they could have done a lot worse than that.
But we want to hear from the fans. How would you grade the Pederson hire? Let us know in the poll below.
