Report: Doug Pederson to Interview With Jaguars on Thursday

The Jaguars' first interview in the search for Urban Meyer's replacement will be former Eagles head coach Doug Pederson.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be kicking off their rounds of interviews in this year's coaching cycle with a former Super Bowl-winning head coach.

According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Jaguars will be interviewing former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson on Thursday, making Pederson the first of what is expected to be numerous interviews as the Jaguars and owner Shad Khan look to replace Urban Meyer. 

The #Jaguars will interview Super Bowl-winning former #Eagles head coach Doug Pederson on Thursday, source said. Their first interview as they try to replace HC Urban Meyer.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 29, 2021

Pederson, who led the Eagles to a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots during the 2017-2018 season, has spent the last year out of football after the Eagles parted ways with him in favor of Nick Sirianni this past offseason.

Pederson makes sense for the Jaguars and Khan in the wake of Meyer's firing for several reasons, namely his work with quarterbacks and his experience as a head coach. Pederson is a former quarterback who spent 13 years in the NFL and sat behind stars such as Dan Marino and Brett Favre, which helped land him a spot on the Andy Reid coaching tree. 

Pederson's first NFL coaching job was as a quality control coach for Reid and the Eagles from 2009-2010, with Pederson then getting a promotion to quarterbacks coach for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. 

Pederson then went with Reid to the Kansas City Chiefs following Reid's firing after the 2012 season. Pederson joined Reid as offensive coordinator in Kansas City, a role he would hold for three seasons, a period of time in which the Chiefs had a top-10 scoring offense each season. 

Pederson took over for the Eagles in 2016, leading the Eagles to a 7-9 record and a No. 16 rank in points per game scored, all with a rookie Carson Wentz. The next season, the Eagles went 13-3 and won the NFC East as Wentz put together an MVP-like season. Wentz was injured in the final weeks of the regular season, but Pederson and backup quarterback Nick Foles still managed to win three postseason games in a row, culminating in a 41-33 victory over the Patriots.

Pederson and the Eagles would go 9-7 in each of the next two seasons, making the playoffs both years. In 2020, the Eagles went 4-11-1 and Pederson was fired following a quarterback and front office controversy, leading to Pederson hitting the free agent market after five years, a 42-37-1 record, and a 4-2 record in the playoffs.