Doug Pederson’s hiring could change Jaguars forever, will it?

Urban Meyer is gone, Doug Pederson is in.

The Jaguars are in a similar position today as they were in 2003, even if there is zero precedent for the front office debacle that they’ve endured the past season. With Urban Meyer out the door, the Jaguars had a chance to bring a talented young coach into the building to complement their young quarterback, the way the Bills did.

The one name that made the most sense was Leftwich’s, the offensive coordinator for last year’s Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The idea of a former young and talented Jaguars quarterback helping Trevor Lawrence avoid the disasters that derailed his own career while installing the explosive downfield passing attack he operated in Tampa Bay was scintillating. There was mutual interest between Jaguars owner Shad Khan and Leftwich, but a deal never materialized. The sticking point: General manager Trent Baalke.

Baalke was hired at the same time last offseason as Urban Meyer — arguably the worst head coaching hire in the history of the sport — and he remained in place following Meyer’s disgraceful exit. There’s more than enough bad press about Baalke out there for anybody to be enlightened as to why he’s the antithesis of successful football, and this is especially true regarding his reputation around the league.

Several potential coaches chose other jobs due to the Baalke problem, and several refused to even interview for the position. The one man who confronted the issue head on? Byron Leftwich. Allegedly demanding that Baalke be fired before agreeing to coach the team, Leftwich face the elephant in the room, something no other coaching candidate was willing to do. Rather than see another talented quarterback waste away in Jacksonville, Leftwich hoped to bring in Adrian Wilson, his former colleague and Cardinals vice president of pro scouting, as the general manager. It all seemed to add up but it wasn’t meant to be.