JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars fired head coach Doug Pederson and retained GM Trent Baalke on Monday, the team announced.
Pederson’s firing comes after the team finished 4-13 this season and has lost 18 of its last 23 games.
“I had the difficult task this morning of informing Doug Pederson of my intention to hire a new head coach to lead the Jacksonville Jaguars,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in a statement. “Doug is an accomplished football man who will undoubtedly enjoy another chapter in his impressive NFL career, and I will be rooting for Doug and his wife Jeannie when that occasion arrives. As much as Doug and I both wish his experience here in Jacksonville would have ended better, I have an obligation first and foremost to serve the best interests of our team and especially our fans, who faithfully support our team and are overdue to be rewarded. In that spirit, the time to summon new leadership is now.
“I strongly believe it is possible next season to restore the winning environment we had here not long ago. I will collaborate with General Manager Trent Baalke and others, within and close to our organization, to hire a leader who shares my ambition and is ready to seize the extraordinary opportunity we will offer in Jacksonville.”
Khan will now be searching for his sixth head coach since he purchased the team in November 2011 and assumed control in 2012. Baalke is entering the final year of his contract.
Khan had big expectations for 2024, telling the team the night before training camp began last July that this was the “best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever” and that he expected the team to make the playoffs. Those comments became public via an in-house documentary released in early September. But instead, his team set an NFL record with 10 one-score losses, the most in a single season in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
Pederson went 22-29 in three seasons with the Jaguars, including 9-8 records in his first two seasons. The Jaguars won the AFC South in 2022 – winning their last five games – and rallied from a 27-0 deficit to beat the Chargers in a wild-card playoff game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs. After starting the 2023 season 8-3, the Jaguars fell apart and missed the playoffs, going 1-5 to end the season.
Last season’s struggles have spilled over into 2024. A 37-point loss on “Monday Night Football” at the Buffalo Bills and a 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams in London highlighted major issues early on. A 52-6 loss at Detroit on Nov. 17 was the largest margin of defeat in franchise history (eclipsing a 44-point loss to Detroit in the 1995 inaugural season) and the defense gave up 645 yards, the second-most allowed in a game in franchise history.
The Jaguars have one of the NFL’s worst defenses, ranking 31st in the NFL in yards allowed per game (389.9) and last in passing yards allowed per game (257.4) under coordinator Ryan Nielsen, whom Pederson hired to replace Mike Caldwell this past offseason. Khan hired Pederson in part to help Lawrence develop into one of the league’s top quarterbacks, but Lawrence still struggles with consistency three seasons after three seasons in Pederson’s offense. Lawrence threw for 2,045 yards and 11 touchdowns before a shoulder injury and concussion ended his season on Dec. 1. His completion percentage (60.6%) is the second lowest of his career and he continues to struggle with turnovers.
Pederson also has faced heavy criticism about offensive coordinator Press Taylor, who took over full-time playcalling duties in 2023. After saying he was going to re-evaluate the playcalling process last February, Pederson refused to publicly say who was going to call plays in 2024, though it was later confirmed to be Taylor. Even Khan weighed in on the issue saying in June that he had a preference on who he wanted to call plays but he would leave the decision up to Pederson.
The Jaguars offense under Taylor finished this season as one of the worst in the NFL, ranking 25th in yards per game (305.8), 21st in passing yards per game (204.5), and 21st in third downs (37.3%). Season-ending injuries to Lawrence, receivers Christian Kirk and Gabe Davis, and tight end Evan Engram played a significant role in the offense’s struggles, but the Jaguars ranked in the middle third of the NFL in scoring, total offense, rushing and passing through the first nine weeks before Lawrence suffered a shoulder injury.
Backup quarterback Mac Jones started seven games in place of Lawrence and the Jaguars averaged just 15.0 points per game and he has thrown for 1,409 yards and six touchdowns with eight interceptions in those starts. The lone bright spot on offense has been receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who led all rookies in receiving yards (1,282) and TDs (10). He also had 87 catches, and those marks set single-season franchise rookie records. Thomas was recently named a first alternate for the Pro Bowl.
Pederson is most known for his tenure as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. He went 42-37-1, made three playoff appearances and won Super Bowl LII in five seasons in Philadelphia (2016-20). He was fired after the 2020 season and spent 2021 out of football before joining the Jaguars in 2022.
Baalke joined the Jaguars in 2020 as director of player personnel in February 2020 and was promoted to general manager after Khan fired GM Gave Caldwell that November. Baalke’s tenure started with the selection of Lawrence with the first overall pick in 2021 and included Urban Meyer’s calamitous 13-game span as head coach, the hiring of Pederson, an AFC South title, a rally from a 27-0 deficit to win a wildcard playoff game, the biggest collapse in franchise history, and signing one of the best free-agent classes in team history.
But Baalke also made a questionable decision by choosing defensive end Travon Walker over defensive end Aidan Hutchinson with the first overall draft pick in 2022 and signed one of the most disappointing free-agent classes in franchise history this season. He also was critical of the team’s lack of identity on offense and defense in 2023, but the same problem has plagued the team this season.
Nine of Baalke’s 38 draft picks from 2021-24 have become full-time starters, including Lawrence, running back Travis Etienne Jr. (25th overall in 2021), cornerback Tyson Campbell (33rd overall in 2021), Walker, linebacker Devin Lloyd (27th overall in 2022), right tackle Anton Harrison (27th overall in 2023), and Thomas Jr. (23rd overall in 2024). Lawrence is the only one to make a Pro Bowl.
