The Jaguars had an incredibly disappointing season in 2023. Disappointment leads to suggestions of dysfunction. Jacksonville G.M. Trent Baalke has rejected the suggestion that he and coach Doug Pederson aren’t getting along.
“A lot of what’s written, a lot of the narratives out there are just false,” Baalke said in his recent press conference, via Demetrius Harvey of the Florida Times-Union. “Plan and simple, false narratives.”
Baalke insisted that his relationship with Pederson remains quite strong.
“When you go through tough times, you find out a lot about a lot of people,” Baalke said. “The season didn’t end the way we wanted it to, we had some strong conversations throughout the year [about] where things were at and where things were trending. Great communication, great collaboration and really respect him and everything that he does.”
It’s always important for the coach and the G.M. to be on the same page. When adversity arrives (and it always does), it becomes easy for the General Manager to criticize the coach when sitting with the owner or the team president in a luxury suite. The survival instinct creates temptation to blame the person who should be a full partner.
That’s why the accountability should always be equal. Either both the coach and the G.M. stay, or both the coach and the G.M. coach. They swim together, or they sink together.
For Baalke and Pederson, the real test comes next year. The 2022 campaign raised expectations. The team failed to meet them in 2023. If they fail again in 2024, ownership might get antsy. Ownership might be looking for someone to blame. Pederson might be tempted to blame Baalke, and Baalke might be tempted to blame Pederson.