Jaguars owner Shad Khan jinxed himself.
Ahead of Jacksonville’s 2024 training camp and preseason, Khan addressed the team and explicitly stated his expectations for it to win football games, implicitly demanding the Jaguars emerge as legitimate contenders in the NFL playoff picture.
The club released Khan’s commentary in a documentary before the campaign kicked off.
“About a month ago we celebrated the city’s partnership with the Jaguars and the approval of funding for the new stadium of the future. So, I met with the reporters and the discussion obviously quickly turned to football and I was quoted, ‘For us, winning now is the expectation,’ ” Khan recalled.
“So really I [have] been looking forward to tonight to set the record straight. I was not misquoted. And let me just repeat, winning now is the expectation. Make no mistake, this is the best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, ever. Best players, best coaches. But most importantly, let’s prove it by winning now.”
What, or who, gave Khan that impression is ambiguous. The 2024 Jaguars, now 2-9 and in early possession of the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft, had yet to conduct a padded practice at that point, though they had led all NFL teams in total offseason spending by over $100 million.
But Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson made two things clear Monday: It wasn’t him, and he isn’t sure who gave Khan that idea.
“I don’t know,” Pederson said. “I’m not privy to those conversations that Shad has or who he’s talking to. I don’t know. I can’t answer that.”
Pressed further about whether or not it was he who offered such lofty praise, Pederson swiftly shot down the notion.
“No,” he said while appearing to shake his head.
Pederson, who added that he spoke with Kahn shortly after Jacksonville’s franchise-worst, 52-6 loss to Detroit, understood where the long-time owner of the franchise was coming from, though.
“I mean, going into the season you’ve got high expectations, obviously, for your football team, as you should,” he explained. “Everybody does. Start of camp, start of the regular season, and rightfully so.”
The Jaguars have come nowhere near that mark, however, as they find themselves in the thick of their second four-game losing streak of the year.
Jacksonville general manager Trent Baalke exhausted significant resources this offseason, not only expenditures but also spending nine NFL draft picks, a plethora of moves that likely influenced Khan’s encouraged opinion about the Jaguars.
But Baalke was not building upon a performance that should have inspired Khan. After opening the 2023 season 8-3 with firm control of the AFC South, the Jaguars went 1-5 in their final six games and missed the playoffs, leading to an aggressive offseason approach in 2024.
The plan backfired. The Jaguars were the first team to be eliminated from contention for a No. 1 playoff seed this season, when the final whistle blew in Detroit on Sunday, per NFLplayoffscenarios.com.
Expressing appreciation for the timing of Jacksonville’s Week 12 bye, especially after its loss to Detroit, Pederson commended Jaguars players for working through the wear and tear of 11 consecutive games and stated the embarrassing performance did not represent the team’s ability or lack thereof.
He believes the week off should benefit the Jaguars, allowing players to refresh and coaches to recalibrate their approach before their final six games.
“My hat is off to those players because of what they battle through,” Pederson said.
“And so, yeah, you can criticize me all you want, point the finger at me. That’s fine because that’s where it starts. But for the players, they put their best foot forward every single day. Yesterday was not who we are.”