The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the market for a head coach again… again. After less than a year, the Jags realized that the Urban Meyer experiment wasn’t going to work out and opted to fire him with four weeks left in the 2021 season instead of letting the situation drag until next year.
Firing Meyer now gives the Jaguars a head start on other teams that will also be in search of a head coach in the next hiring cycle, such as the Chicago Bears, and the Houston Texans. Jacksonville can begin to put together a list of potential candidates and start interviewing them in a couple of weeks.
Jordan Schultz of The Game Day says that even though Shad Khan won’t address the Jaguars’ head coach opening until next year, he’s talked about Byron Leftwich, Brian Daboll, Todd Bowles, Doug Pederson, and Josh McDaniels as potential candidates. That list may eventually change, and some of them have a better resume than others but it’s a pretty solid list all things considered. Let’s say they are Khan’s top 5 moving forward, how do they fare when matched up against each other? Here’s a ranking of the five.
Jaguars head coach candidate No. 5 – Josh McDaniels
There’ve been talks Josh McDaniels will succeed Bill Belichick in New England but it’s unlikely that he will pass up the chance to become a head coach if the right opportunity arises. McDaniels went through a rough stretch late in the 2000s and early in the 2010s.
McDaniels couldn’t find success as the head coach of the Denver Broncos and later as the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams. However, he’s rehabilitated his image after returning to the Patriots and helping Mac Jones become a legitimate Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate.
Back in Denver, McDaniels had trouble connecting with players but that was more than a decade ago. There’s a good chance he’s worked on that area and if can make the case he will do for Trevor Lawrence what he did for Jones, he will be an enticing option.
Jaguars head coach candidate No. 4- Todd Bowles
Here’s another candidate with head coaching experience. Todd Bowles coached the New York Jets from 2015 to 2018 and even managed to win ten games in his first year at the helm. However, he came crashing down and couldn’t recreate the success he enjoyed in his first season as the head coach, racking up a combined 14 weeks in the following three years.
In Bowles’ defense, he didn’t get much help from then-general manager Mike Maccagnan, who did a bad job of replenishing the roster. Realistically speaking, it was difficult to win many games with an aging Josh McCown. This is not a knock on the veteran but rather an acknowledgment that his age was catching up to him during his tenure as the starting quarterback during the Bowles era in New York.
Just like McDaniels, Bowles has had a good second act in the NFL and has become one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL. The New Jersey native orchestrate the game plan that stopped the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 55 and helped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers win. The Jaguars may want to hire an offensive-minded coordinator to oversee Trevor Lawrence’s growth but if they lean on a defensive mastermind, Bowles is their man.
Jaguars head coach candidate No. 3 – Brian Daboll
For the second year in a row, Brian Daboll will be one of the hottest names during the hiring cycle. He ended up staying with the Buffalo Bills and although they aren’t as dominant on offense as they last season, they’re still pretty formidable, ranking in the top ten for the second straight year.
Moreover, Daboll played a big role in the growth of quarterback Josh Allen. Early in his NFL career, the Wyoming product was a talented yet raw player and Daboll helped him polish all the areas in the game. That will make it an appealing option for teams with a young quarterback.
The problem with Daboll is that he will need to convince any potential employers that the Bills’ recent dip in offensive production either isn’t his fault or is nothing more than a speed bump. Last season, Buffalo’s offense was ranked second in points scored but is currently sixth. While that’s not a big drop, Allen hasn’t been as sharp as he was last year. Then again, that may be due to factors outside of his control, such as injuries to the offensive line.
If Daboll can come up with a rational and sound explanation for the dip, he has nothing to worry about. How he interviews will determine if he gets the job or not. He would be a first-time head coach and that could make the Jags hesitate a bit. Again, it will be imperative for him to nail his interviews.
Jaguars head coach candidate No. 2 – Byron Leftwich
If you check social media, this is the fans’ pick to succeed Urban Meyer, and with good reason. Byron Leftwich was the seventh overall pick in the 2003 draft and played in Jacksonville in the first four years of his NFL career. Although the Marshall product isn’t considered a bust, he didn’t do much of note and retired in the early 2010s.
Leftwich then joined Bruce Arians’ staff with the Arizona Cardinals and worked his way up to offensive coordinator. Arians would bring Leftwich with him to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. You could make the case that Tom Brady was a big reason the Bucs won Super Bowl 55 but the truth is that Leftwich has helped him play at a high level even though he’s well in his 40s.
One thing that will boost Leftwich’s candidacy anywhere he goes is that he, not Arians, runs the Buccaneers’ offensive meetings, showing he’s more than just the result of having top-notch talent at his disposal. An added benefit of hiring Leftwich is that he could bring in wide receiver Chris Godwin with him. If the Jaguars bring back DJ Chark Jr. and sign Godwin in next year’s free agency, their offense should see a considerable boost in 2022.
Like Daboll, Leftwich will be a first-time head coach but that shouldn’t stop the Jags or other teams from pursuing him.
Jaguars head coach candidate No. 1 – Doug Pederson
This may be the least enticing, appealing, exciting of the five but Doug Pederson more than makes up for it by winning a Super Bowl as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Pederson isn’t an under-the-radar candidate but you will likely hear more about Brian Daboll and Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy over the next few weeks.
In case you missed it, back when Pederson became Philly’s head coach, some saw him as a bad hire. Not that he needed to prove his doubters wrong but he helped the Eagles their first Super Bowl (and first championship since 1960) in just his second season at the helm. One thing that will help Pederson’s candidacy soar is his work with quarterbacks. Under his watch, Carson Wentz was a legitimate MVP candidate in 2017 before he got hurt. Nick Foles then took over and finish what Wentz started.
Had Eagles general manager Howie Roseman and owner Jeffrey Lurie given Pederson more support, Philadelphia would have become a perennial contender. Instead, they kicked him out of town because he wanted to choose his coaching staff.
Pederson is ready to get back to the coaching ranks and Jacksonville would present a favorable situation for him. The Jaguars have a promising quarterback in Trevor Lawrence, plenty of cap space to make a couple of splash signings next offseason, and a top 5 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. That should be more than enough to help him quickly turn things around.