Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson could be making his last stand.
After Jaguars owner Shad Khan opted to not make any changes before or during the Jaguars’ bye week, it has become clear that Pederson, his staff and general manager Trent Baalke will likely be given the final six weeks of the season to make something happen. What happens beyond that is known only to Khan.
With six weeks left to try to salvage something, anything from a nightmare 2-9 season, the Jaguars could and should be expected to break out all of the moves and changes they can think of.
But which three changes should we see right away, and what kind of impact could they have? We break down below where we think the changes should come.
Doug Pederson takes over play-calling
The biggest offseason and preseason topic for the Jaguars surrounded the play-calling and which Jaguars coach would be the one running the unit for Trevor Lawrence. Jaguars owner Shad Khan made it clear he wanted Doug Pederson to do it. Pederson won a Super Bowl calling plays, said he wanted to be the play-caller when he took the job, and then thrived in the role in 2022.
On the other hand, Pederson has stood by offensive coordinator Press Taylor for over half a decade at this point and has continued to do so in Jacksonville. After Taylor was given the full-time play-calling duties in 2023, Taylor was given the job again in 2024. Pederson needs to provide some kind of spark to the offense, and franchise, and this is the quickest and best way to do so.
Arik Armstead moves to DT full-time
The curious case of Arik Armstead has been one of the worst storylines of the Jaguars’ 2024 season. After thriving as a three-technique throughout his entire career, Armstead has curiously been used at defensive end at a high volume. Unsurprisingly, the results have been, well, not great. Armstead has 225 snaps on the edge and 116 at defensive tackle, per NextGenStats. Despite this, only five of Armstead’s 16 pressures have come on the edge — 11 have come inside.
In short, it is clear that Armstead is significantly more impactful player when he plays his natural position of defensive tackle. If he had played only that all season, perhaps things would have been different for the defense. It is too late for the change, but it should still come.
Ventrell Miller is made a full-time starter
Outside of Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, there is a solid argument to make that second-year linebacker Ventrell Miller has been the brightest spot on the defense. Miller stepped into the lineup during a series of linebacker injuries in the middle of the season, but he has seen his snaps decrease as the unit has hit full health.
In the last four games, he has played more than 60% of the snaps only once. For a player who has made as many plays as Miller has this year, that number is far too low. The Jaguars should put Miller in the lineup and make Devin Lloyd their No. 3 linebacker for the final games left on the schedule.
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