Philadelphia Eagles: Doug Pederson just feels built for Jacksonville

Did the Philadelphia Eagles make the “right” decision when they fired Doug Pederson earlier this year?

That, my friends, is a question that will surely hang over this franchise for years to come.

On one hand, the Eagles have turned into a pretty darn good team under first-year head coach Nick Sirianni, who overcame some initial growing pains to become a fast fan favorite. His selfless willingness to adjust his scheme to fit his players is incredibly encouraging, and it’s clear the players have bought into his system.

But then again, Pederson was the first Super Bowl-winning quarterback in franchise history and arguably would have the team in a better playoff position right now because of his veteran play-calling savvy. Even if the results ultimately show out in a positive way, the Eagles were downright bad for much of the month of October- and September – and it’s hard to imagine Pederson racking up the same win-loss record over that tenure.

But hey, just because we’ll never know what Year 6 of the Doug Pederson era would have looked like in South Philadelphia doesn’t mean we won’t see the quarterback-turned-coach doing his thing elsewhere. If anything, according to Ian Rapoport, he might have a new job before we even know it.

The Philadelphia Eagles may have to play their former head coach down the line.

Do you think being a Philadelphia Eagles fan was tough in the “dark age” of 1960-2016? Well, imagine being a fan of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

First and foremost, Jacksonville is kind of a weird city. Sure, it has Wawa, which is cool, but it’s a tertiary market in a state with about a dozen professional sports teams, and is more often the butt of a joke – like in the excellent Ash Vs. Evil Dead – than a cultural place of note, its tenure as the pandemic home of AEW excluded.

On the field, the Jaguars have been one of the worst teams in the NFL since their initial inception in 1995. The team has a lifetime win percentage of 41.6, has 17 losing seasons, and has only made the playoffs seven times, including just three in the 21st century and once in the last decade.

They were consistently bad under Gus Bradley, slowly fell apart under Doug Marrone, and turned in one of the weirdest seasons in recent memory during their one-and-done campaign with Urban Meyer running the show.

If any team needed the calming, vanilla energy of a visor’d Doug Pederson, it would be the Jaguars, and according to Ian Rapoport, they are hoping to interview the Super Bowl champion in the not too distant future.

Now on paper, everything about this situation makes sense. Pederson is a former quarterback who has had success coaching young, highly drafted players at his position. His offense, while sort of boring, is certainly professional, and his teams always worked hard during his tenure in Philadelphia.

Unless Pederson opts to open a chophouse at any point in the next few months, he feels like a betting favorite to secure the job.

Would the Philadelphia Eagles be better off today with Doug Pederson as their head coach? My honest opinion is no; while they might have a few more wins in the short-term, Nick Sirianni has proven he can coach and has a willingness to change up basically anything to put his team in the best position to succeed. Still, I look forward to seeing Doug Pederson on a sideline once more, as the NFL is just better with Dougie P around.