Gene Frenette: Pederson better push the right button on Jaguars’ defensive coordinator hire

Just over a week into his offseason of discontent, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson — one of the best golfers in his NFL fraternity — knows this might be his only mulligan.

He cannot afford to miscalculate his next move on a defensive coordinator hire. Or else his job security likely becomes threatened and his dream of becoming the first NFL head coach to win a Super Bowl with two different teams will evaporate.

That’s why it’s paramount for Pederson to do one thing with this hiring process: cast a wide net.

If that requires waiting another week or two before Pederson pulls the trigger on a hire, so be it. There are plenty of qualified candidates available. No need to make this a rush job.

Pederson has sat in the lead coaching chair long enough to understand he couldn’t let the collapse to his team’s 2023 season go by and proceed with business as usual.

Something had to change. In this instance, Pederson felt pushed to dismiss most of his defensive staff and see if a fresh approach on that side of the ball might produce the desired result of sustained winning.

Not that some other coaches are without culpability in the 1-5 finish that cost the 9-8 Jaguars the AFC South division title.

Many frustrated fans directed anger at offensive coordinator and play-caller Press Taylor retaining his job, but Pederson obviously believed the defensive downfall necessitated firing coordinator Mike Caldwell and seven of his assistants.

But since the new coordinator will have a lot of input on how Pederson will fill all those defensive vacancies, that hire will have a profound effect on the Jaguars’ 2024 season and beyond.

If Pederson doesn’t bring in the right guy, it could be him and his entire staff getting a pink slip sometime down the road.

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Plenty of viable candidates

It certainly appears Pederson intends to be somewhat deliberate in the hiring process, seeing as how the Jaguars have reportedly scheduled at least five interviews and been turned down in requests to talk with two NFL coordinators, the Carolina Panthers’ Ejiro Evero and the Atlanta Falcons’ Ryan Nielsen.

Dismissed New York Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, 60, who has served as a DC for three different NFL teams, may have the most experience of any prospective candidate, but that doesn’t necessarily make him the best fit.

With nearly a dozen teams having vacancies either at the head coach or coordinator position, the coming days and weeks will be a Wild West job fair. There’s no guarantee Pederson hits on the right guy whether he moves quickly or takes his time.

Plenty of viable Jaguars candidates are still coaching in the playoffs, as a reported interview with Baltimore Ravens secondary coach/defensive pass game coordinator Chris Hewitt suggests.

Unless Pederson or other NFL teams filling vacancies are in a super hurry, what is the harm waiting on someone like Kansas City Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen, who had two previous stints with the Jaguars, including a throwaway season as the 2021 DC under Urban Meyer?

KC’s defense has been stout all season, finishing second in total yards allowed (289.8 per game) and sacks (57).

It might also be worth it for Pederson to pick the brains of defensive passing game coordinators John Butler (Buffalo Bills) or Cory Undlin (Houston Texans), a Jaguars secondary coach from 2009-11 and on Pederson’s staff for four years as a defensive backs coach with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Certainly former Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier (2020-22), with 12 years of experience coaching that position in the NFL and three years as a Minnesota Vikings head coach, has great credentials. It probably doesn’t hurt his chances with the Jaguars that he’s represented by Bob LaMonte, who is also Pederson’s agent.

Look, there’s no cookie-cutter formula for what makes an effective coordinator, any more than one for a head coach or personnel executive. You do as much vetting as possible and simply hope whoever gets selected hits a home run.

The two best defensive coordinators in Jaguar history, Mike Smith (2003-07) and Dick Jauron (1995-98), did their job so well that both got head coaching opportunities, including stints with both the Chicago Bears and Buffalo for Jauron.

Neither Smith nor Jauron had DC experience when hired by Jack Del Rio and Tom Coughlin, respectively. Yet after getting dismissed as head coaches and returning in a DC capacity, they struggled on bad teams and ended their careers on a down note.

So much about what makes an effective coordinator comes down to circumstances.

Caldwell’s unit looked fine when it was getting takeaways in the first half of the season, then collapsed as the defense struggled to get them over the last nine games.

For Pederson and all head coaches, picking the right coordinator is not much different than NFL Draft selections. The relationships with incoming coaches might be stronger, but finding the right fit is still a crapshoot.

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A change for the better?

It’s not a big secret why Pederson felt compelled to make changes with most of his defensive staff.

The depth of failure on that side of the ball the last six weeks was pervasive and embarrassing, none worse than in losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and the season-ender against its AFC South nemesis, the Tennessee Titans.

Jacksonville allowed Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning, making only his second NFL start, to light them up for 354 passing yards in a 34-31 overtime loss.

That galling setback on Monday Night Football was the start of a four-game losing streak in which the defense allowed at least 30 points three times.

But it was the Week 18 loss at Tennessee that clearly sent Pederson into heads-must-roll mode. He couldn’t stand to watch Titans running back Derrick Henry ramble for 153 yards, not with the Jaguars having a division title and playoff aspirations riding on the outcome.

All week long, the message got hammered home to the defense about limiting Henry’s damage, just as it did back in November when the Yulee High product had only 38 yards.

You can bet Pederson wasn’t happy at halftime after Henry went off for 70 yards and a touchdown. So you can imagine how he felt seeing No. 22 go almost untouched for 69 yards on the second play of the third quarter.

That ruined any realistic hopes of a comeback, making Pederson probably want to put his fist through a wall. When Henry put a dagger in the Jaguars’ season, Caldwell and his assistants had to know there’d likely be consequences.

Now it’s Pederson who bears the responsibility of beginning to fix this cratering defense by hiring the right coordinator.

General manager Trent Baalke will also have to do his part by giving the new coordinator and his assistants better players through free agency and the draft.

But it all starts with Pederson making the right call on Caldwell’s replacement. He better not whiff.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: For Jaguars' Doug Pederson, a lot riding on hiring of defensive coordinator