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Jaguars' Doug Pederson talks at NFL Combine, says undecided on who will call plays this year
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- Jaguars' Doug Pederson talks at NFL Combine, says undecided on who will call plays this year
INDIANAPOLIS — Though we didn't learn too much from the NFL Combine regarding what Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson wants to do with the direction of his team, we did get some insight into his thoughts on the team's play-calling situation.
It's not yet decided.
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Last year, Pederson gave the proverbial keys to offensive coordinator Press Taylor, allowing him to call all of the team's plays after calling them during the second half of games in 2022.
After the team finished the season with middling results offensively, particularly when it came to the run game, many observers felt as though a change was needed, putting the headset back on Pederson.
The team ranked top 10 in passing yards per game, as well as most other passing statistics, but getting back to running the football well is something the team can considerably upgrade this year, ranking 30th in yards per rush last year.
2024 NFL Combine takeaways: Jaguars' Pederson, Baalke talk contracts, prospects and more at NFL Combine
Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson talks with offensive coordinator Press Taylor on the field ahead of the start of Wednesday morning's training camp session. The Jacksonville Jaguars held their third day of training camp Wednesday, July 27, 2022, at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville Knight Campus practice fields on Atlantic Blvd.
At the Combine on Tuesday, Pederson expressed his confidence in Taylor, noting that it's "really high."
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"We were a top-10 passing offense. Now, we were bottom third, three teams at running the football. Press called plays. We had a lot of injuries. Our left side of the offensive line, there was some inconsistency there. We lost Christian, we lost Zay ... Some of that is not the play-caller, some of that is by circumstances," said Pederson. "Are there things that we need to address and fix? Yes. And we've done some of that already."
Pederson did say, though, that a decision hasn't been made yet if he will call the plays or not, noting that he and Taylor work together during games and in the offseason.
"I think those are things that I need to consider this offseason and this spring," Pederson said about taking over play-calling duties. "There were things out of my control that I had to deal with more the last year that takes you away from some of that stuff. It's something that I have to, as part of the evaluation process, I have to evaluate myself and Press as decision-makers and play callers and see what's best for our team."
Pederson reiterated that the decision has not been made yet, but it does bring to light that a decision has to be made at all. Changes could be coming in Jacksonville during the 2024 season.
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Pederson talks team's identity, onboarding process for younger players
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young (9) touchback as Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris (95) and linebacker Foyesade Oluokun (23) defend during the first quarter of a regular season NFL football matchup Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jacksonville Jaguars blanked the Carolina Panthers 26-0. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke brought up two important aspects of the team that needed to improve in 2024 at his end-of-season presser in January : establishing an identity and getting better at onboarding players.
"The onboarding process of them, getting them up to speed, trusting them. You're in a developmental league now. You don't have time to say that we can shelf them for a year or shelf them for two years," Baalke said at the end of January.
"Who are we? Offensively, defensively, special teams, I felt we did that towards the end of [2022], I'm not so sure we got to that point this year. That's No. 1, you've got to have an identity. Who are you?" he added.
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Pederson was asked about both of those aspects of the team during his scrum with the local media on Tuesday. Speaking about the identity of the team, he said that that's something established in the season, not before. But, he did share insight into what he wants the identity to be.
"Ryan [Nielsen] has said, and I agree, you want to be attack-style, you want to be aggressive, we want to be physical, right? We want to be smart. We want to be a well-conditioned football team, those are all part of our identity. When it comes to offense, defense, how we use our players?" Pederson began.
Part of the Jaguars' identity in the 2022 season was the team's reliance on the running game, especially as the season neared an end. The Jaguars didn't have much success at all in that aspect of the team in 2023.
"Do we want to get back to running the ball like we did in 2022 a little bit? Yeah, we need to. That's part of the identity, that's part of being physical up front, that's part of the receivers going in to block and that's the quarterback putting us in better plays, it's us calling better plays and that's all part of the identity," Pederson said.
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When asked about the onboarding process, Pederson explained that they will incorporate things this spring to make sure players are ready.
"I think the onboarding for us is how we handle our younger players, particularly our draft picks and our undrafted guys new to the roster. How well we kind of catch them up to speed and indoctrinate them in what we're trying to get done. There's things that we're going to put in place this spring and make sure they're ready to play football," Pederson said.
"They may not be ready to help us in September, but they may be ready in like October, November, December and that's the ultimate goal and making sure that these guys are prepared to do that."
The Jaguars could be relying on a slew of young players this year, laying the foundation of the team for years to come. Getting them up to speed quickly will be paramount.
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Last year, only rookie tackle Anton Harrison , safety Antonio Johnson , receiver Parker Washington and DL Tyler Lacy played significant snaps, with Harrison playing the most by far out of 13 total draft selections in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Perhaps that'll change in 2024.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' Pederson could take play-calling duties from Press Taylor
