After Jaguars Fire Coach Doug Pederson, Owner Shad Khan Says Firing GM Trent Baalke Would Be ‘Suicidal’

Last week, the Jacksonville Jaguars fired head coach Doug Pederson following a disastrous past year.

The team had a remarkable turnaround in Pederson’s first year, 2022, going from last place in the league to AFC South winners. First-overall pick Trevor Lawrence led the team to 9-8 and a stunning 27-point comeback win over the Los Angeles Chargers in the Wild Card Round.

Following this marked success, the Jaguars started the 2023 season at a respectable 8-3. They followed that up by losing four in a row and eventually finishing at 9-8, out of what had seemed like a guaranteed playoff spot. They would then begin the 2024 season by going on another four-game losing skid, made worse by extensive injuries.

The season is perhaps best summed up by the team’s loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 11. In a game that Ian Rapoport reported could result in regime change, the Jaguars lost by 46 points, 52-6 – the worst margin of defeat in team history.

Pederson was fired the morning after the team’s final loss to the Indianapolis Colts, which dropped the team to 4-13 on the season. The NFL insider reported that the season “fell seismically short of owner Shad Khan‘s expectations.”

“As much as Doug and I both wish his experience here in Jacksonville would have ended better,” Khan said in an announcement, “I have an obligation first and foremost to serve the best interests of our team and especially our fans, who faithfully support our team and are overdue to be rewarded. In that spirit, the time to summon new leadership is now.”

“I strongly believe it is possible next season to restore the winning environment we had here not long ago. I will collaborate with General Manager Trent Baalke and others, within and close to our organization, to hire a leader who shares my ambition and is ready to seize the extraordinary opportunity we will offer in Jacksonville.”

Khan noted that he hoped to turn the Jaguars away from “predictability” with a coaching change, expressing that he felt they were the most predictable team in the NFL.

The Jaguars have finished with double-digit losses in ten of Khan’s first 13 seasons as owner.

It was a surprise, however, that the team elected to keep Baalke, who has been widely disparaged as one of the leading causes of its failure.

 “Health and wellness of the players, medical statistics, analysis, scouting, and a number of other elements along with contract administration, all of those areas we have really changed [and] improved certainly over the last four or five years,” Khan pointed out when discussing his decision. “So to change all of that is almost like suicidal.”

Baalke is in the final year of a five-year contract, and an extension is still possible.