Report: Jaguars Blocked Ravens' Interview Request For OC Press Taylor
The Jacksonville Jaguars have seen one assistant get multiple looks as an offensive coordinator this offseason, but it doesn't look like they are going to see another.
According to a report from The Athletic's Jeff Zrebiec, the Ravens put in a request to speak with Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor about their own open coordinator role, but the Jaguars blocked the request.
The Jaguars are able to block the request since Taylor is already a coordinator in Jacksonville. If he was a position coach, they would not be able to.
Jacksonville and head coach Doug Pederson have already seen wide receivers coach Chris Jackson move on and find a new role with the University of Texas, while Passing Game Coordinator Jim Bob Cooter has interviewed for offensive coordinator jobs in Carolina and Tampa Bay.
Passing game coordinators interviewing elsewhere are also able to be blocked by organizations, but the Jaguars clearly had no issues with Cooter doing so, likely because he is not the top coordinator on offense and because an offensive coordinator job would be a true promotion for him.
Pederson and Taylor have long-established ties, with Pederson's final stages as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles centering around his desire to name Taylor his offensive coordinator, and the subsequent pushback he received.
Taylor spent the 2021 season as a senior offensive assistant with the Indianapolis Colts after spending eight seasons (2013-20) in a variety of roles with the Philadelphia Eagles, including passing game coordinator.
Under Pederson and Taylor, the Jaguars improved from 32nd to 10th in points per game, 28th to 8th in EPA/Play, 19th to 5th in success rate, and 27th to 8th in DVOA. The Jaguars went 9-8, won the AFC South and advanced to the second round of the playoffs after a Wild Card win over the Los Angeles Chargers, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence earning a Pro Bowl nod to top it all off.
"Yeah, Press and I, when I was hired in 2016, Chip Kelly was the coach there for three years, and actually brought Press on board as an offensive quality control, and he worked with the QBs," Pederson said after hiring Taylor last year. "I kept him in that role, then I moved him around a couple years later into the receiver room, and just kind of kept listening to him, giving him more responsibility every year that I was a head coach, and then eventually got him into the quarterback room, became a pass game coordinator for me, and just a guy that is highly intelligent, very smart.
"He's detailed. He's organized. He's the type of guy that as I went through my tenure there in Philadelphia, he's the kind of -- you always have the coaches you keep your eye on, and he was always one of those guys for me that I kept my eye on. I knew that one day I think he was going to be an offensive coordinator. I felt that in my heart that he could be. I was going to eventually make him a coordinator possibly in Philadelphia, and things changed. Yeah, I'm so excited for him because of the working relationship that we've had and how we think alike and how we bounce ideas off each other, and just looking forward to watching him flourish from here."
