NFL updates: Jaguars hire Doug Pederson, Daniel Snyder saga continues

by Seth Udinski

Seth Udinski, FISM News

 

In the NFL, a Super Bowl winning coach is returning to the head coaching ranks after a year off, while the controversy over Washington Commander’s owner Daniel Snyder continues.

On Thursday, the Jacksonville Jaguars announced that they are hiring Doug Pederson as their new head coach. He will replace now-disgraced former coach Urban Meyer, who only lasted one year with the team.

Pederson made a name for himself as both a player’s coach and an aggressive play caller in five seasons as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. In his second season at the helm, he led the team to its first Super Bowl championship with a dramatic 41-33 win over Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII. He led the Eagles to the playoffs in three of his five seasons with the team and posted a 42-37-1 career regular season record and a 4-2 postseason record.

After a disappointing 2020 season in Philly, he was fired and spent 2021 out of football. He arrives to Jacksonville amid high expectations, as fans hope to see a marked improvement in second-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence under Pederson, a former NFL quarterback himself.

Another interesting storyline in the Pederson hire is that he will face off against Carson Wentz and the Indianapolis Colts twice each season.

Pederson and Wentz were instrumental in the Eagles’ 2017 run to the Super Bowl, but fans wonder if their relationship soured in their final year with the team as Pederson seemed to favor youngster Jalen Hurts over Wentz. Wentz is also coached by Frank Reich in Indianapolis, who was Pederson’s offensive coordinator during the Eagles’ Super Bowl season.

In other NFL headlines, in an update to the Washington Commanders abuse saga, team owner Daniel Snyder was incriminated during Thursday’s House Committee hearing, when several female former employees alleged that Snyder had committed sexual abuse against them.

On Friday, ESPN reported that Snyder will likely have some control over whether the NFL will release its full report of abuse and toxicity. Some have voiced doubt whether the hearing had any effect at all, or that Snyder would be held accountable for what appears to be overwhelming evidence against both his character and behavior.

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