Jaguars HC Doug Pederson gets superb grade for 2022 turnaround

There are many reasons for the Jacksonville Jaguars’ impressive turnaround in 2022 but hiring Doug Pederson as their head coach following the dismissal of Urban Meyer is arguably the biggest one. In Pederson’s first year at the helm, the Jags left the cellar of the league and won the AFC South. Not surprisingly, Pederson earned an outstanding grade for his work.

Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports graded all the first-year head coaches and gave Pederson an A-. Benjamin notes that Jacksonville won nearly as many games in 2022 as they did in the previous three seasons. Moreover, he credits Pederson for helping Trevor Lawrence make a leap after an underwhelming rookie campaign.

"The Jaguars won 10 combined games from 2019-2021 under Doug Marrone, Urban Meyer and Darrell Bevell. They’re one playoff win away from matching that total in Pederson’s first year on the job. Like Daboll in his old NFC East stomping grounds, the ex-Eagles coach has brought genuine fight and belief to a roster in transition. Best of all, he’s got QB Trevor Lawrence on the upswing after the former No. 1 pick endured a lost rookie season. The AFC South may well be his for the foreseeable future."

Pederson and Brian Daboll (New York Jets) were the only first-year head coaches that earned an A. Steve Wilks also got an A but he took over the Carolina Panthers when Matt Rhule was given the boot. Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Vikings) earned a B while both Dennis Allen (New Orleans Saints) and Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins) were assigned a C. Lovie Smith (Houston Texans), Matt Eberflus (Chicago Bears), Josh McDaniels (Las Vegas Raiders) all got a D.

The Jaguars made the right decision when they hired Doug Pederson

The Jags were on the brink of hiring Byron Leftwich but a deal fell apart when he made it clear he didn’t want to work with the general manager Trent Baalke. Once Lefwtich withdrew his name from consideration, the team was quick to target Pederson, who was the first candidate they interviewed for the opening.

Pederson had his work cut out for him. He took over a team that was demoralized following the Urban Meyer debacle and had to help them heal, so it wasn’t simply a matter of winning games. He had to regain his players’ trusts, which was no easy task after all the lying Meyer did during his short tenure with the team.

One year after finishing 3-14, the decision to hire Pederson over coaches such as Nathaniel Hackett looks great. You will be hard-pressed to find a Jaguars player that isn’t thrilled to have Pederson as their head coach. Also, Trevor Lawrence is playing like a top-10 quarterback and Jacksonville seems to be poised to be a playoff contender beyond 2022.

The Jaguars are now the division champs and ready to welcome the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. Doug Pederson made it all possible.