JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There are three points to examine with regard to the Jaguars just-completed coaching search: the hire itself, the process they followed and the impact of the decision.
Let’s start with the hire. I really like it. When we first started looking at the Jaguars Pederson was one of the first two names that I liked, along with Jim Caldwell. I liked Pederson for the job because he has experience as an NFL head coach, he’s won--he took Philadelphia to the Super Bowl-- and he’s an offensive mind who should be able to develop Trevor Lawrence. Ultimately, that’ going to be the top priority for Pederson. He says he’s going to call plays for the Jaguars, so he’ll have his hands in the dirt, so to speak.
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As we heard from Shad Khan on Saturday, they are going to bring someone--maybe Rick Spielman--in as the executive vice president of football operations. This is absolutely the right move. They need someone who is over that side of things like Mark Lamping is on the business side.
Now to the process. It was a mess. Khan clearly didn’t like the criticism of the process. You could tell that from his comments and a few answers Saturday. It appeared unorganized, it was certainly not as transparent as many other coaching searches in the NFL, and Khan’s loyalty to general manager Trent Baalke may have cost the Jaguars at least their top candidate.
That being said, if the moves the Jaguars made to hire Pederson and bring in an EVP are the right moves, they won’t have to go through this again for quite a long time. Khan is absolutely correct when he says the Jaguars need more brainpower in the building. A “flat” organization, as Khan referred to it, means very few levels on the organizational chart. That style demands a strong and decisive leader who makes the right calls. The NFL is too complex a business to expect that to be the rule rather than the exception.
Khan initially said during the press conference that decisions on the roster will be made as part of a collaborative effort. That’s fine in practice, but ultimately, one man has to have the final say. The collaborative approach has been tried before, but rarely with success in the NFL.
Now, perhaps the most important aspect of the recent decision. What will this mean for the Jaguars? It was easy to see on Saturday that Pederson’s personality is much more approachable than Urban Meyer’s. Check out Jamal St. Cyr’s one-on-one interview with him if you need further proof. I think that will play well with the players. Pederson is also going to call plays, which means that he’ll be involved in the details. Meyer never was. He’s played the game and he’s coached a team to a championship. He’s one of only four men to have a Super Bowl ring as both a player and head coach. He knows the NFL. No need for a deep dive here. The players will appreciate that aspect of his experience.
We’ll see what kind of an impact these moves will make starting when free agency opens in a little more than a month. I suspect that the Jaguars will still have a tough time getting free agents to come here. Although, Pederson’s resume will certainly help more than Meyer’s. We are at least a year away from Trevor Lawrence being a major draw for skill position players. He’ll need to have a big second season in order to become the lure for receivers that other top quarterbacks have become. The next most important decisions for Pederson come when he starts to hire his staff of assistant coaches. You can see some of the potential names here.
After hiring Pederson, and anticipating a top executive to be brought in, I expect the Jaguars to have a professional offseason, with a few key additions to the roster via free agency, and a lot of focus put on the draft.
It’s too early to make predictions about the Jaguars’ 2022 record will be, but I fully expect things to operate more like a professional organization than what we’ve seen lately.