The Jacksonville Jaguars were in contention for the No. 1 seed in the AFC at 8-3 in Week 12. Then the team lost five of its final six games and missed the playoffs at 9-8. With that kind of collapse, heads had to roll, and it seems like Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson decided to fire defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell and several assistant coaches on the defensive side so owner Shad Khan doesn’t fire him.
On Black Monday in the NFL, Pederson dropped the hammer on Caldwell, who just completed his second season in Jacksonville. In addition to the defensive coordinator, Pederson let go of most of his key assistants, per ESPN.
The Jaguars also fired defensive line coach Brentson Buckner, passing game coordinator/cornerbacks coach Deshea Townsend, inside linebackers coach Tony Gilbert, safeties coach Cody Grimm, senior defensive assistant Bob Sutton, and defensive quality control coaches Tee Mitchell and Sean Cullina.
The only top defensive lieutenants who made it through are defensive line coach Rory Segrest, outside linebackers coach Bill Shuey, and defensive quality control coach Patrick Reilly.
Jacksonville’s defense was good at times this season, with 27 turnovers, good for fourth in the league, and ninth in rushing yards allowed. However, they were 17th in scoring and 26th in passing yards allowed.
The stats were much worse during the end-of-season collapse, though, with the team giving up 29.2 points and 146.8 rushing yards per game in their five final losses.
Doug Pederson firing Mike Caldwell may be what buys the head coach one more season in Duval County. If the team underperforms again next season, he could be the one on the chopping block.
And next season is shaping up to be even tougher than this one in the AFC South. With CJ Stroud in place with the Houston Texans and Anthony Richardson returning for the Indianapolis Colts, the division is no longer the push-over it was the last few seasons.
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