Jags' decision to keep Trent Baalke and fire Doug Pederson repeats history that will lead to more losing seasons
As many expected, Doug Pederson is no longer the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.It's not much of a surprise. The Jags were easily one of the NFL's worst teams in 2024 after back-to-back nine-win seasons that also included a historical comeback win in the 2022-2023 playoffs. Everything regressed and it looked like there was […]
As many expected, Doug Pederson is no longer the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It's not much of a surprise. The Jags were easily one of the NFL's worst teams in 2024 after back-to-back nine-win seasons that also included a historical comeback win in the 2022-2023 playoffs.
Everything regressed and it looked like there was no direction for the future. Therefore, Pederson is out the door and the Jags are looking for their third head coach in five years.
It's the right call. The team was floundering under Pederson, but at the same time, the Jags made a bad decision in retaining general manager Trent Baalke.
Baalke has been the full-time Jags GM since 2021. Over that span, the team has compiled a 25-43 record that includes two nine-win seasons sandwiched between a three- and four-win season. Obviously, a GM can't control what happens on the field, but this next hire will be the third head coach aligned with Baalke since 2021. He wasn't responsible for hiring the disaster that was Urban Meyer, but he hired Pederson, who didn't work out. He'll be responsible for bringing in the next head coach, as well.
The key with all this is Baalke has an awful record of hiring head coaches. It all started with Jim Tomsula and the San Francisco 49ers back in 2015. Tomsula is easily one of the worst coaching hires of all-time and was fired after one year. Next up was Chip Kelly, who somehow finished with an even worse record than Tomsula at 2-14 compared to Tomsula's 5-11. He was then fired after one year, along with Baalke.
There were even rumors (and a report) that Baalke and Kelly weren't getting along and that the latter was trying to undermine the former for weeks. Either way, it was another awful head coaching hire on Baalke's part.
The pattern is clear: retaining Baalke does not mean the Jags are going to find the right head coach. Hell, all arrows point to they'll probably find the wrong one and it's going to be a disaster.
Like I said earlier, GMs can't control what happens on the field, but they can control who they put on the field to make sure things go the way they're supposed to – or at least close to it. There are some GMs out there, like the Bucs' Jason Licht for example, who have genuine cases to make when it comes to surviving head coaching firings.
And then there are guys like Baalke, who have a clear history of failed hirings and not just one – it's three with Baalke. The Jags will be lucky if they can find the right guy, or even a competent guy, to pull them out of the gutter and get them back on track with Trevor Lawrence and co.
