After the Jaguars went through a season of Urban Meyer as head coach, new boss Doug Pederson has talked about the team needing “some kind of healing” after everything that transpired in 2021.
But as the club’s head coach, Pederson also has a responsibility to get the team ready to win games.
So how does Pederson balance gaining trust and respect with strong on-field preparation?
“That’s a great question,” Pederson said in his Tuesday press conference. “As I gain their trust, I can push a little bit harder. There is a fine line there, there is a balance there, and that just comes from understanding and really reaching out to the players and kind of seeing how they react to certain things. I want to push them in practice, I want to challenge them in practice, but at the same time, I don’t want to really overstep my bounds a little bit right now with them.
“At the same time, when I do that, I want to see the return back towards what we’re doing and that’s what I’ve seen. The more that we continue to have that two-way communication and dialogue, I can continue to push a little bit harder. Obviously, in the offseason we go a little bit easier, but I think it happens more in training camp when the pads come on and it gets a little warmer outside and we can really challenge them a little bit more.”
Jacksonville has a lot of work to do to become competitive in 2022. But Pederson’s experience in team building should at least have the Jaguars in a much better place than they were last year under Meyer.
