Ex-NFL player offers head-scratching excuse for Jaguars' dismissal of Doug Pederson

The Jacksonville Jaguars had several valid reasons to move on from Doug Pederson. The biggest one was probably the fact that they progressively got worse after making the playoffs and winning the AFC Sout title in 2022. That said, former NFL running back LeSean McCoy just came up with another one... that should be welcomed with a blank stare.

McCoy partook in a roundtable on The Facility and made the case that * checks notes * Trevor Lawrence was the main reason Pederson was kicked to the curb, pointing out that No. 16 is a mediocre quarterback, and things won't change as long as he's in Jacksonville.

"He comes from the Andy Reid tree, so you know what that's about, right? If we look at his whole path now, he's actually one of the coordinators that coached for the Chief that actually called plays," McCoy told the rest of the panel. "Okay, he does that well, then he goes and he goes to Philadelphia. What's he do there? He wins a championship. He didn't win it with Carson Wentz, he was with Nick Foles. Then it goes to Jacksonville.

McCoy continued, "They say, 'We need to save our quarterback because he's really not that good, but we took him with the No. 1 pick overall, so we gotta do something about him. You bring him in there. He helps Trevor Lawrence out, but how much will you help a guy that's not that good? And then you pay these quarterbacks all this money, and now when they don't do well because they're not that good of a player, and now you're gonna blame somebody. Who do you blame? Let's blame the head coach, but you gonna blame a winning head coach have been winning his whole life. It doesn't make sense."

Later in his rant, McCoy says that Lawrence is overrated and no coach can save him or the Jaguars. Below is the full clip in case you want to give it a look.

While McCoy may have a few valid points, it's important to point out that he might be biased because Pederson was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles when he was a player there in the early 2010s. With that out the way, he's right that Lawrence hasn't lived up to the $275 million contract he signed last offseason, and he hasn't been nearly as consistent as the Jaguars would hope. That said, he also made a few puzzling comments.

For starters, Pederson isn't blameless when it comes to his firing. He delegated plenty of his responsibilities to his coordinators and didn't demand accountability from them. Similarly, the former Jaguars head coach would throw players under the bus publicly.

While it's true that coaches must ask for excellence from their players, you talk to them in private. Pederson didn't appear to do it. To make matters worse, he rarely ever held himself accountable for the team's dearth of wins.

For instance, Pederson said that everybody was responsible for the team's lack of success one day before he was dismissed. That's partly true but the buck stops with him, and he either didn't seem to realize that or wanted to deflect the blame.

Trevor Lawrence must play better but isn't the reason the Jaguars fired Doug Pederson

Trevor Lawrence is coming off an underwhelming season, which is probably why Shad Khan told the local media that he wasn't the second coming of Aaron Rodgers or anything like that. On the other hand, the Jacksonville Jaguars made a long-term commitment to the veteran quarterback, and if they want to turn things around, they'll need to find a head coach who will get the most out of him.

Contrary to what LeSean McCoy said, Lawrence isn't mediocre. Does he need to improve? You bet, and he can do it with a head coach who was truly invested in his performance, unlike Doug Pederson, who made the mistake of entrusting offensive coordinator Press Taylor with such a crucial task. Ben Johnson, or Liam Coen, two of the hottest offensive coordinators in the NFL, could pull it off.

And despite Trent Baalke's presence, the Jags still need to reach out to both Johnson and Coen. They'll probably be less incentivized to take the job due to Baalke's presence, but maybe Khan can be persuasive enough to land either one. It doesn't hurt to try.

The bottom line is that Trevor Lawrence is a talented, albeit inconsistent, player who can win games, and becaues of that, the Jaguars need to make sure the right head coach can put him in a position to succeed.

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