Doug Pederson Gets Jaguars Head Coaching Job

Pederson was let go from the Eagles just three years after he took the organization to its first Super Bowl win and led them to the playoffs in three of five seasons

Doug Pederson is more than just a football coach now.

He is the NFL’s version of, ‘The Cleaner.’

When an organization makes the mistake of hiring an egomaniacal coach from the college ranks, Pederson is the one they call.

Jeffrey Lurie dialed him up in 2016, just months after axing Chip Kelly. The Eagles owner stressed emotional intelligence when he hired Pederson.

Now, Shahid Khan has called on Pederson to clean up the mess left by Urban Meyer, who was canned after just 13 turbulent weeks on the job.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Thursday night that the Jaguars were making Pederson their next head coach.

Pederson, who led the Eagles to their first Super Bowl title in 2017 by beating the heavily-favored New England Patriots, 41-33, in Super Bowl LII, a game that featured one of the best plays in the history of the game known as the Philly Special.

A statue of Pederson and Nick Foles still sits outside Lincoln Financial Field because of that play and that victory.

Pederson was fired following a 4-11-1 season in 2020 despite the Super Bowl championship three years earlier and leading the Eagles to the playoffs in three of his five seasons on the job.

Pederson finished his tenure in Philadelphia with a 42–37–1 (.531) regular-season record, a 4–2 (.667) playoff record, and a 46–39–1 (.541) career record.

The Jacksonville job may be an even taller task for him, given the multiple transgressions on Meyer’s very brief watch.

Not even six months into the job, Meyer was fined $100,000 for violating practice rules during OTAs.

In October, he didn’t fly home with the team after a game in Ohio and was videoed inappropriately touching a woman who was not his wife.

As the season wore on, both Jaguars players and coaches were critical of his treatment of them. 

Everything came to a head on Dec. 15 when former Jags kicker Josh Lambo publicly accused Meyer of physical abuse, saying Meyer repeatedly kicked his leg during warmups before the team’s final preseason game.

The behavior was too much for Khan to take and he canned Meyer after Week 13 with the Jaguars sitting at 2-11. His 13-game tenure is tied with Lou Holtz and Bobby Petrino for the fourth-shortest coaching tenures in NFL history.

Kelly didn’t leave such a mess, so this will be more for The Cleaner to scrub.

At least Pederson has his quarterback in Trevor Lawrence and that’s a great place to start.

Pederson and Jacksonville also have the first pick in the draft – again.

Schefter reported that Pederson and Lawrence already spoke by telephone earlier Thursday evening before Jacksonville had hired its new coach.

The Jaguars have 12 draft picks to help put pieces around Lawrence, including five picks out of the first 103 overall.

Pederson was one of the first to interview for the Jaguars job when it opened. He also was one of the first to interview with the Chicago Bears.

Then his name fell off the radar.

During the next few weeks, Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who played quarterback for Jaguars in his career, emerged as the favorite in Jacksonville while Matt Eberflus was hired in Chicago.

The Jags and Leftwich never could make a deal work.

Eagles’ fans will get a chance to see Pederson again, too, since the Jaguars are scheduled to play at Lincoln Financial Field this fall. The NFL doesn’t release the days and times of game until the spring.

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglemaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.