Urban Meyer became one of the shortest-tenured coaches in NFL history and the only question is… what took the Jaguars so long? His stint in charge of the team was a disaster from day one.
From bringing Tim Tebow back, to the lap dances, to allegedly kicking Josh Lambo; Meyer was as irresponsible as he was unprepared and undeserving of the job. Sadly, that could cost the Jaguars rebuild at least a couple of years to put that tenure in the rearview mirror.
But now that Meyer is finally gone and the Jaguars have some time to look at their options, who should they trust to fix that mess? More importantly, who could bring the most out of Trevor Lawrence? Let’s break it down.
NFL Rumors: 3 Candidates To Coach The Jacksonville Jaguars
3. Doug Pederson
Doug Pederson had three straight winning seasons with the Philadelphia Eaglesbefore his final year. Some rumors claim he lost the players’ trust for deliberately tanking towards the end of the campaign, something that eventually cost him his job.
But Pederson should get another chance in the league. He’s a Super Bowl-winning coach and played a big part in Carson Wentz’s development. He’s got the experience and the résumé to at least get an interview.
2. Eric Bieniemy
Eric Bieniemy has been linked to all vacant coaching gigs in the NFL and College Football for a couple of years now, so it might as well be his turn. He orchestrated the league’s best offense and turned the Kansas City Chiefs around with his play-calling.
Bieniemy is one of the main guys to credit for Patrick Mahomes’ incredible success, and the Jaguars need to do whatever it takes to put Trevor Lawrence’s horrible rookie season behind him. He’s earned his stripes.
1. Byron Leftwich
Byron Leftwich makes plenty of sense for the Jaguars. He’s a former player of the organization and is expected to fetch plenty of interest in the offseason, so they might as well get ahead of the rest of the pack.
Leftwich is coming off winning a Super Bowl as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator and, while he won’t have the same vast repertoire of weapons in Jacksonville, he could certainly turn around their historically bad offense.