While the Jacksonville Jaguars are getting ready to face off against the Buffalo Bills in the playoffs, teams that didn't qualify for the postseason are already in full offseason mode. And a few of them even fired their head coach and began their search for their respective replacement.
Retreats like Mike McCarthy and Jason Garrett are surprisingly garnering interest in this coaching cycle, which led an NFL writer to wonder why former Jags head coach Doug Pederson isn't getting much consideration.
Former Jaguars HC Doug Pederson isn't getting much interest in the hiring cycle
NFL analyst Rob Maaddi posted on Twitter that Doug Pederson should earn head-coaching consideration, arguing that he and the Philadelphia Eagles beat Tom Brady in the Super Bowl and later oversaw a turnaround with the Jags. Here's the skinny.
"There's a Super Bowl champion coach who beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady with a backup QB," Maadi wrote. "He went to the playoffs and won another playoff game with the same backup QB. He won a division title with a QB throwing to practice squad receivers. He inherited a dumpster fire in Jacksonville, won a division his first season and a playoff game after trailing 27-0."
There’s a Super Bowl champion coach who beat Bill Belichick and Tom Brady with a backup QB. He went to the playoffs and won another playoff game with same backup QB. He won a division title with a QB throwing to practice squad receivers. He inherited a dumpster fire in…
— Rob Maaddi (@RobMaaddi) January 7, 2026
Like McCarthy, Pederson has a Super Bowl and played a huge role in helping the Jags recover from the Urban Meyer era. That said, there are a couple crucial reasons his stint in Jacksonville failed. The biggest one was his support for right-hand man Press Taylor.
Despite the fact that Taylor showed that he wasn't equipped to call plays or run the offense, Pederson stuck with him and went out of his way to defend him. On top of that, he didn't make many tweaks to his offense during this time with the Jaguars.
While Pederson's scheme had success early on, it lacked new ideas and innovation in the following years. Moreover, the offense became an echo chamber with him and Taylor. That was abundantly clear in Trevor Lawrence's regression in 2024.
Doug Pederson deserves blame for how his tenure with the Jaguars ended
Had Doug Pederson given up on Press Taylor and brought in another coordinator, there's a chance he might've stayed at least one more season in Jacksonville. But old habits die hard, as that was one of the reasons he walked away from the Eagles.
Philly wanted to keep Pederson after 2020, but owner Jeffrey Lurie wanted him to dismiss Taylor and bring in new voices. He didn't accept in an instead walked away. What makes you think that his loyalty to Taylor has changed? Maybe it has, but it would most definitely be a reason for concern if it hasn't.
Of course, Pederson was far from a slouch, and just because his stint with the Jaguars didn't end well doesn't mean that he's a bad coach. His role in the 2022 turnaround cannot be overstated, and it's easy to forget that he had Trevor Lawrence, at one point, playing at a top-10 level.
This is a way to say that it's indeed a bit surprising that Doug Pederson isn't getting much consideration for head-coaching vacancies. But at the same time, and based on how things ended in his past two stops, it's easy to see why teams with an opening may be hesitant to make an inquiry.