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Michael DiRocco, ESPN writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Despite watching his team finish with double-digit losses for the 10th time in his 13 seasons as owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Shad Khan said he never considered a complete organizational overhaul, a move he said would be ” like shooting yourself in the foot.”
Instead, he said he made the decision to fire only head coach Doug Pederson on Monday morning but retain general manager Trent Baalke largely because he felt the Jaguars were the most predictable team in the NFL.
“What is a complete franchise overhaul?” Khan asked on a Zoom call with reporters Monday afternoon. “Player health and well-being, medical statistics, analysis, scouting and a number of other elements along with contract administration, all those areas where we have really changed.” [and] It’s certainly improved in the last four or five years. So changing all that is almost suicide.
“You have 85 people working on that side [of the organization] and you say, ‘Am I going to get rid of them and find 85 new people who are going to be better than that?’ That’s like shooting yourself in the foot. I mean, we have to work on something that’s broken, that needs to be fixed, and continually improve the things that are working.”
For Khan, that wasn’t the offense or defense, both of which were among the worst in the league. Under offensive coordinator Press Taylor, the Jaguars ranked 25th in yards per game (305.8), 21st in passing yards per game (204.5) and 21st in third downs (37.3%). Season-ending injuries to quarterback Trevor Lawrence, receivers Christian Kirk and Gabe Davis and tight end Evan Engram played a role in the offense’s woes, but the Jaguars ranked in the middle third of the NFL in scoring, total offense, rushing and passing. for the first nine weeks before Lawrence suffered a shoulder injury.
The defense ranked 31st in the NFL in yards allowed per game (389.9) and last in passing yards allowed per game (257.4) under coordinator Ryan Nielsen. Jacksonville forced just a league-low nine turnovers, the only team with fewer than 12. Khan was unhappy with the lack of creativity on both sides of the ball and believes a coaching change will fix that.
“Right now we are the most predictable team on both sides of the ball,” he said. “[In] In football, to win, deception is a big part. Unpredictability. If you know exactly what we are going to do on offense or defense, you better have the 22 best players to help us win a soccer game.
“Being unpredictable is modern football and we have to be able to demonstrate it on the field.”
Offensively, the Jaguars used snap movement on just 11.3% of their snaps (fewest in the NFL) and ranked 31st in plays with pre-snap motion (44.1%), according to ESPN Research. Additionally, 77.3% of the Jaguars’ rushing attempts were between the tackles (the third-highest rate in the league). Defensively, the Jaguars lined up with two deep safeties a league-high 60.9% of the time, while playing Cover 3 a league-low 8.3% of the time, according to ESPN Research. They also covered men 56% of the time, just behind Detroit (56.4%) and Denver (56.3%).
Baalke is entering the final year of his five-year contract, but Khan did not say whether he had given Baalke an extension. Under the current structure, Baalke and the head coach will report directly to Khan, but Khan would not rule out adding an executive vice president of football operations as a layer between him, Baalke and the new coach.
Khan also said he doesn’t think having a head coach and general manager with different contract terms wouldn’t be a problem, but admitted that if any coaching candidates expressed reservations about that (or working with Baalke) he would be willing to do so. address the topic.
“What we want to do is give them an environment where they are successful and say, ‘I want my own quarterback, I want my own health and well-being, I want my own doctors,'” Khan said. . “I would really like to look at that further because if we can improve… and if they have reservations, I would like to address them honestly and openly because our goal is for them to be successful. What do we need to do?” give them to be successful?”
Khan will now look for his sixth head coach since he bought the team in November 2011 and took over in 2012.
Khan had high expectations for 2024, telling the team the night before training camp began last July that this was the “best team the Jacksonville Jaguars put together” and that he expected the team to make the playoffs. Those comments were made public through an internal documentary released in early September. But instead, his team set an NFL record with 10 one-score losses, the most in a single season in the Super Bowl era (since 1966).
“When you don’t win, changes happen in all areas, in the coach, the management and the players,” said Engram, who missed the final four games of the season due to a shoulder injury. “So there will be a lot of changes in the future because we don’t get the job done. And it’s unfortunate. It’s been a fantastic three years playing for Doug. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve grown a lot and this place will definitely grow from the experiences we’ve had. with him and the future will definitely be different, but I appreciate Doug for everything he has done and I wish him the best in the future.”
Pederson went 22-29 in three seasons with the Jaguars, including 9-8 records in his first two seasons. Jacksonville won the AFC South in 2022, winning its last five games, and rallied from a 27-0 deficit to beat the Chargers in a wild-card playoff game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chiefs. After starting the 2023 season 8-3, the Jaguars fell apart and missed the playoffs, finishing 1-5 at season’s end.
Last season’s struggles extended into 2024. A 37-point loss on “Monday Night Football” against the Buffalo Bills and a 35-16 loss to the Chicago Bears and rookie quarterback Caleb Williams in London highlighted major issues from the beginning. A 52-6 loss at Detroit on November 17 was the largest margin of defeat in franchise history (eclipsing a 44-point loss to Detroit in the inaugural 1995 season) and the defense allowed 645 yards, the second-most amount allowed in a game in franchise history.
Khan hired Pederson in part to help Lawrence become one of the best quarterbacks in the league, but Lawrence still struggled with consistency after three seasons in Pederson’s offense. Lawrence threw for 2,045 yards and 11 touchdowns before a shoulder injury and concussion on Dec. 1 ended his season. His completion percentage (60.6%) is the second-lowest of his career and he continues to struggle with turnovers.
Pederson has also faced heavy criticism over his OC Taylor, who took over play-calling duties full-time in 2023. After saying he was going to re-evaluate the play-calling process last February, Pederson declined to publicly say who was going. to control the plays in 2024, although it was later confirmed that it was Taylor. Even Khan weighed in on the issue, saying in June that he had a preference on who would call the plays, but would leave the decision to Pederson.
The lone bright spot on offense has been receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who led all rookies in receiving yards (1,282) and touchdowns (10). He also had 87 receptions, and those marks set franchise records for rookies in a single season. Thomas was recently named the first alternate for the Pro Bowl.
It’s unfortunate because at the end of the day we all had a hand in this season and how things have played out,” said Kirk, who missed the final nine games of the season due to a broken collarbone. “I have a lot of respect for Doug. . It has made me a better football player, a better man. I think he’s one of the best coaches that’s ever coached in this league, and it’s unfortunate how things happened.
“But obviously the organization has to make the decision that it considers best.”
Khan says he believes the Jaguars can turn things around quickly, perhaps as soon as 2025, to get to the point where they are contending for the playoffs every season. Baalke agreed.
“We don’t need to fix everything, we just need to fix some things,” Baalke said. “And I think identifying that person who can come in and then sit down with the staff that we’ve gathered around them and really take a look at the roster. Again, we do this every year, we take a hard look at the roster, identify who the players are. that you need to put in a position to win games for yourself and then surround them as best you can with free agents or draft picks.
“The process is not going to change. We just have to do some things a little different, a little better.”
Baalke joined the Jaguars as director of player personnel in February 2020 and was promoted to general manager after Khan fired general manager Dave Caldwell in November. Baalke’s tenure began with the selection of Lawrence with the first overall pick in 2021 and included Urban Meyer’s calamitous 13-game span as head coach, the hiring of Pederson, an AFC South title, a comeback from a deficit 0-for-27 to win a wild-card playoff game, the biggest collapse in franchise history and the signing of one of the best free agent classes in team history.
But Baalke also made a questionable decision by taking defensive end Travon Walker over defensive end Aidan Hutchinson with the No. 1 pick in 2022 and signed one of the most disappointing free agent classes in franchise history this season. He also criticized the team’s lack of identity on offense and defense in 2023, but the same issue has plagued the team this season.
Nine of Baalke’s 38 draft picks from 2021-2024 have become full-time starters, including Lawrence, running back Travis Etienne Jr. (25th overall in 2021), cornerback Tyson Campbell (33rd in overall in 2021), Walker, linebacker Devin Lloyd (27th overall in 2022), right tackle Anton Harrison (27th overall in 2023) and Thomas (23rd overall in 2024). Lawrence is the only one to make the Pro Bowl.
