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Trevor Lawrence Gets New Head Coach in Jacksonville
Former Clemson star Trevor Lawrence has a new head coach, and it's someone who with strong offensive credentials and a Super Bowl ring.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have hired Doug Pederson on Thursday night to take over the organization nearly two months after Urban Meyer was relieved of his duties.
Pederson has been out of coaching since he was fired by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2020, but it's the same organization he took to the playoffs in three of his five seasons there.
Pederson led the Eagles to a surprising 41-33 victory over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII during the 2017 season. Pederson won another playoff game in Philadelphia the next season but was dismissed two years later for missing the postseason.
Still, Pederson went 42-37-1 as a head coach. He was known for being an offensive innovator and aggressive play-caller who won with a young QB in Carson Wentz and turned Nick Foles into a strong commodity.
Pederson will look to turn Lawrence, who played at Clemson, into the franchise quarterback and star he was expected to be after being selected No. 1 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft. This could be the perfect pairing as Lawrence will be running a much better offense than what Meyer tried to establish, which never took off last year.
However, the Jaguars have a lot of work to do to upgrade the roster, and they have the No. 1 pick again in this year's draft. Also, getting to Pederson wasn't easy. It looked like they were going to hire Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who played quarterback for Jacksonville. But Leftwich reportedly wanted Jags general manager Trent Baalke replaced for him to take the job, which never happened.
Now it's on Pederson to put Lawrence in a winning situation. It was a rough rookie campaign for the talented quarterback, who completed 59 percent of his passes and threw more interceptions (17) than touchdowns (12). Pederson at least will bring a NFL pedigree to the Jaguars, something Meyer didn't have when he drafted Lawrence.
Pederson and the Jaguars will also own the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, who according to Fanduel, is expected to be Aidan Hutchinson at +160.
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