Did the Jaguars Make the Right Call on Doug Pederson's In-Season Status?

It is clear Doug Pederson will finish out the year for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

New York Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich, left, and Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson shake hands after the game Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jets held off the Jaguars 32-25. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

If anything has been clear for the Jacksonville Jaguars over the last month-plus, it is that head coach Doug Pederson is getting the rest of the 2024 season.

Ever since the Jaguars suffered the worst loss in franchise history in a 52-6 loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 11, it has seemed like the Pederson ship was destined to hit rough waves eventually. Many assumed that would come in the days after the embarassing defeat, but it never did.

Instead, Jaguars owner Shad Khan has not made any public statements or moves in regards to Pederson's status. It seems evitable that he will have to open up about his plans by the end of the 2024 season, but Pederson and his staff have kept plugging along with business as usual.

Was this the right move, though?

In some ways, it is understandable why the Jaguars' seemingly stance of inaction and keeping the status quo could be frustrating to some. Had Khan acted out of character and moved on from Pederson during the season, he would have signaled to the rest of the organization and the fan base that change was coming in some form of fashion.

There is some merit in being proactive in these types of situations. We have already seen three different teams fire their coach this year alone. It sends a clear statement and ensures that, no matter what, something will be different moving forward.

But there have also been instances in which in-season firings have arguably hurt the Jaguars and Khan. The best example is when the Jaguars fired former head coach Gus Bradley in 2016, replacing him in the interim with assistant head coach and offensive line coach Doug Marrone.

Marrone went 1-1 as the interim coach as the Jaguars looked at least competitive and respectable, and he was named the team's new head coach during the offseason. Marrone had done enough in his interim stint to build momentum and support for the job, which he would then hold for the next four seasons.

Would Marrone have been given the job on a full-time basis? Possibly, but there is no doubt that him showing his mettle in the final weeks of the season also did him some good.

A more recent example of an interim place-holder working himself into the full-time role is general manager Trent Baalke, who stepped into the interim role in 2020 when Dave Caldwell was fired during the season. A few months later, Baalke was named the formal general manager moving forward.

Neither outcome led to sustained success for Khan. Both interim staff members helped oversee a playoff trip early on in their tenures, but little else.

If keeping Pederson through the entire 2024 season means that Khan won't run into the risk of trusting a place-holder once again, then perhaps he always had the right strategy on how to finish out the 2024 season.

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