When the Jaguars hired Doug Pederson to replace Urban Meyer as head coach, they did so with a clear vision in mind. Pederson is now one of the few active head coaches with a Super Bowl win, and given his reputation as a quarterback guru, the team hopes he can turn the offense around.
A major part of that equation will be Press Taylor, the newly hired offensive coordinator. It’s the first NFL play-calling gig for Taylor, the younger brother of Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, but he’ll have some experienced coaches around him.
In addition to Pederson’s expertise, the team also hired two assistants — passing game coordinator Jim Bob Cooter and quarterbacks coach Mike McCoy — with offensive play-calling experience.
“I really like the mixture of personalities and philosophies that are coming together,” Taylor told John Oesher on the O-Zone Podcast. “A lot of guys, we have some sort of ties. But it’s going to be a lot of different ideas. The group is low-ego, high output. People don’t seem to care who’s going to get credit. Everybody just wants to contribute.
“That’s what you want to be around.”
Taylor also has direct experience working under Pederson, serving as an assistant in Philadelphia before following offensive coordinator Frank Reich to Indianapolis, where he was also an offensive assistant.
He said that familiarity will prove beneficial for the working relationship between the two.
“That’s a big part of it,” Taylor said. “Obviously, Coach Pederson and I can speak the same language, having been in the same offense for five years. … Having familiarity with one another is important. We have a great relationship already coming into this thing, but it’s important we’re in lockstep.
“If he and I are not having great communication, it’s going to show up on the field.”
If the Jags are going to see a second-year leap from quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the pair of coaches need to be on the same page. Taylor said that the opportunity to coach a player with Lawrence’s talent was the icing on the cake in getting him to come to Jacksonville.
“He was probably the No. 1 overall pick since he was a freshman in college,” Taylor said. “The talent was very obvious. I had a chance to speak with Trevor once everything was finalized, a chance to introduce myself and talk about how excited we are to have a chance to work with him.
“We have to find the plan that best suits him to have the success he’s capable of having. That’s something that’s exciting.”
It was certainly a bold offensive coordinator hire for Pederson, given Taylor’s relative inexperience. But he’s a coach Pederson is familiar with, and he has surrounded him with a team of veteran assistants that will aid him. The Jags will hope to see those results on the field.
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