3 Reasons Why Doug Pederson Should Call Plays For the Jaguars in 2024

With the 2024 season looming, it is time for Doug Pederson to take back control of the Jaguars' offense.

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson, right, fist bumps offensive coordinator Press Taylor before an NFL football matchup Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA

With 10 weeks to go until opening Sunday for the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars still have to figure out one of the most important questions in football.

Who is calling the plays?

The topic has been written about countless times this offseason, whether in this space or others. The answer, though, likely won't be revealed until we inch closer to Week 1.

The two options are obvious: head coach Doug Pederson or offensive coordinator Press Taylor. Which way Pederson might lean in deciding the important role is significantly less obvious, with Pederson, Taylor and all other Jaguars' brass, staff, and players keeping mum and being non-committal on the topic.

With that said, we think there is a strong case for Pederson to accept the role. Here are three reasons why.

Pederson is a reason why the offense was better in 2022 than 2023

The biggest reason why Pederson should take over play-calling duties is obvious: he is good at it. Pederson's play-calling ability and acumen likely ranks in the top dozen among head coaches. His Super Bowl run in Philadelphia showed that and so did his first year with the Jaguars. While Taylor did call plays at times for the 2022 Jaguars, the Pederson impact can't be understated.

In 2022, the Jaguars ranked No. 8 in EPA/Play, No. 5 in success rate, No. 6 in dropback EPA/Play, No. 4 in dropback success rate, No. 26 in rushing EPA/Play and No. 21 in rushing success rate. They were a poor rushing team, but the offense as a whole was a top-10 unit and a top-6 passing game.

In 2023, the Jaguars took a step back despite running it back with most of the same players. The only differences were injuries at receiver and quarterback, but otherwise the Jaguars made a giant upgrade at receiver going from Marvin Jones to Calvin Ridley.

Despite this, the 2023 Jaguars ranked No. 19 in EPA/Play, No. 14 in success rate, No. 14 in dropback EPA/Play, No. 7 in dropback success rate, No. 30 in rushing EPA/Play, and No. 31 in rushing success rate. Other than meaningless volume stats like passing yards, the Jaguars defense regressed in each area in 2023. To change that, Pederson needs to do what he does best.

The pressure from ownership is already on

The differences between Pederson's situation in Jacksonville and Pederson's situation and eventual ousting in Philadelphia are clearly defined. With the Eagles, Pederson answered to an owner who wanted his own fingerprints on the football operations. An owner who wasn't afraid to make demands, and an owner who wasn't afraid to make changes if he didn't like what he heard.

In Jacksonville, Pederson doesn't have that type of owner. Jaguars owner Shad Khan has been known for his patience in his decade-plus as owner. Khan has evolved and developed with each season, but at his core he is an owner who wants to give his employees the power to do the jobs he hired them for.

With that said, Khan has already set the standard for the 2024 season. He wants his team in the playoffs, and he clearly wants Pederson as play-caller -- even if he will never say that in so many words. Khan, who never had a head coach as a play-caller before Pederson, will let Pederson decide the play-calling question. In doing so, he will let Pederson decide his own fate. With that much pressure already on from ownership, why wouldn't Pederson want to be the captain of the Jaguars' offensive ship?

"Yeah, I have an opinion, okay. But then those are things, it's like the question about Trevor, I have an opinion and I think, but I don't want to tell people, look, we need to do it. Because then things don't work out, they look at me and say, we did it because you wanted it," Khan said on Wednesday. "Okay. So I think there's so much been written about it. Heck New York Times had an article on it, and you remember the last line of that article. Okay, the last sentence of that article on this thing. So I think, but Doug, he's empowered. I'm going to let him decide."

This should be why Pederson hired Ryan Nielsen to run the defense

Perhaps one of the major reasons Doug Pederson didn't call plays in 2023 had to do with the Jaguars' defense. Yes, Pederson let Taylor call plays at times in 2022 -- just like Andy Reid did with Pederson when Pederson was his coordinator. And yes, Pederson likely always planned to hand over the reins to Taylor sooner than later considering he had a similar plan in Philadelphia.

But Pederson's comments on play-calling at the combine suggested something was pulling him away from the play sheet, and it makes sense to consider the defense as a factor. After all, the lasting impression of the 2022 Jaguars' defense was of a unit that couldn't stop a hobbled Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. So it would make sense for Pederson to take more of a CEO role in 2023 than that of a play-calling savant like other top play-calling head coaches in the NFL.

But Pederson shouldn't have the same concern with Ryan Nielsen that he maybe had with Mike Caldwell's unit entering last season. The Jaguars defense has yet to play a single meaningful down for Nielsen, but his reputation and approach speak for themselves. He doesn't have decades of experience running a defense, but it is clear he is a different level of coordinator than the Jaguars have had in the past.

The hiring of Nielsen means Pederson can, finally, hand the defense completely over. And in doing so, it should open him up for more opportunities to focus on the offensive side of the ball. Nielsen was hired for a reason.

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