Jacksonville Jaguars coach Doug Pederson may or may not be on the hot seat, but the team’s owner is not piling on additional pressure right now.
In a new interview with Demetrius Harvey of the Florida Times-Union, Jaguars owner Shad Khan gave a vote of confidence to both Pederson and general manager Trent Baalke. Khan said he was an admirer of what Baalke and Pederson have done, and said his primary focus was on supporting them and figuring out what he could do to help them win more games.
“I still believe in them. I believe in the players, I believe in the coaching staff. I believe in Trent,” Khan said in the interview. “Obviously, the results are disappointing for all of them, just as well as me or any other Jaguar fan, but, the key thing one has to understand [is] we have evolved and really got to a level. I think we’ve got the players, we’ve got the coaching, we’ve got the facilities.”
Khan added that the Jaguars have been competitive in three of their four losses and could have easily won those games, and that he is more concerned with how the team finishes, not how they start.
This might relieve some of the pressure on Pederson, but only temporarily. There have been reports that he is in danger of losing the locker room, though he has denied this. They have two straight games in London against the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots, followed by a tough stretch of four games against the Packers, Eagles, Vikings, and Lions. If things don’t get better, Khan might not be quite as forgiving by that point.
