Why Jaguars' Shad Khan Thought Doug Pederson's Firing Was Necessary

Former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson's tenure with the team came to an end shortly after the end of a second consecutive disappointing season.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan speaks as Head Coach Doug Pederson listens in as the business bearing the name on the new practice facility, Miller Electric Center, is announced during a media conference after a minicamp football practice Monday, June 13, 2022 at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville. Jki Jagspracticefacility 09 / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Jacksonville Jaguars moved swiftly in their firing of former head coach Doug Pederson. After accumulating a losing record in three seasons with the team, Jaguars owner Shad Khan decided it was time for the organization to move on from Pederson and begin the process of moving on.

Pederson spent most of the season on the hot seat, after the first half of the season looked like a continuation of last season in all the wrong ways. While the Jaguars would eventually show signs of life late in the season, it was far too little, far too late.

Khan explained what went into his decision to move on from Pederson with such quickness. Pederson and Khan had multiple conversations about the direction the team was going, yet there were few improvements on the field for the Jaguars this season.

“If we go back, three years ago—or three seasons ago—obviously, we made the playoffs, we're in the division game," Khan said. "Last year, we started off 8-3 and then went 1-5, OK, we didn't make the playoffs. It was a winning season, but didn't make the playoffs. After that, I started, really, right in Nashville, sat down with Doug, ‘OK, what are we going to do?’ And he identified, on the defensive side, we needed to change the staff and so on. As the season progressed, obviously, we weren't doing well. We were close like yesterday, but not close enough to win the game. Then as I spoke to Doug, even last week for a good length of time, I just came to the conclusion what we were doing was not working and a change in direction was needed.”

When asked why he fired Pederson but kept Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke. Khan made it clear.

"I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater," Khan said. "We have a lot of things that are working, that can always be improved and will improve, and there are other things that are not working that need to be fixed. So, the coaching, that is an area that we need to fix now. But certainly, over the last few years, we built a football administration, and a lot of things are working well there.”

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