Coaching Matters: 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars Coaching Staff Preview

July 6, 2022

Eli Grabanski previews the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars' coaching staff in search of buy-lows, fantasy football sleepers, and risers based on play-calling and historical data.

After every NFL season, NFL teams take the time to evaluate not only the players but also the coaching staff and front office as well. While many teams choose to retain the same head coach, offensive coordinator, and defensive coordinator, a few other teams opt to go in a new direction with their coaching staff.

One team that shook up its coaching staff for the second offseason in a row was the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars fired head coach Urban Meyer, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, and defensive coordinator Joe Cullen to bring in head coach Doug Pederson, offensive coordinator Press Taylor, and defensive coordinator Mike Caldwell.

This article will look at the potential impact this coaching staff will have on the players and try to pinpoint the Jacksonville Jaguars players' fantasy values in it.

The Baseline

To get a better understanding of the value the Jaguars coaches bring to this team, we can look at the NFL league averages in each of the past two years in a variety of offensive statistical categories and then compare them to the averages achieved by the Jaguars' coaches. Here are 'The Baseline" NFL league averages over the past couple of years:

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Defense Impact

Previous Coaching Staff

In order to get an understanding of how the Jaguars' fantasy players may be impacted this year, we also need to look at some of the key members of the Jacksonville Jaguars' previous coaching staff: former head coach Urban Meyer, former offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, and former defensive coordinator Joe Cullen. By doing this, we will have a better understanding of where the new regime is starting from and where the primary changes will occur.

Former Head Coach: Urban Meyer

The Jaguars fired Urban Meyer after many controversies in just one season with the team. Below are some of his team's offensive statistics during his time as an NFL head coach. If you want to see some statistics from his college coaching days, you can find them in last year's 'Coaching Matters' preview for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Former Offensive Coordinator: Darrell Bevell

Darrell Bevell was a long-time offensive coordinator in the NFL, spending time in the role with the Minnesota Vikings (2006-2010), Seattle Seahawks (2011-2017), and Detroit Lions (2019-2020) before joining Urban Meyer's coaching staff in Jacksonville in 2021.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

Former Defensive Coordinator: Joe Cullen

Todd Wash spent one season as the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive coordinator (2021). Below are the team's defensive statistics during his time as the Jaguars' defensive coordinator.

2022 Offense

2022 Head Coach: Doug Pederson

The Jacksonville Jaguars made a splash last year in the offseason, bringing in one of the greatest college football coaches of all time to be their new head coach - Urban Meyer. The hiring turned out to be a colossal mistake, with the team firing Meyer after just 13 games and once again in need of a head coach. In their search, the Jaguars prioritized getting a coach with success at the NFL level and brought on Super Bowl champion head coach Doug Pederson to be the team's new coach. Because Doug Pederson comes from an offensive background, let's take a look at some statistics of his offenses during his career in an offensive coordinator or head coaching role.

QB Impact

RB Impact

WR Impact

TE Impact

2022 Offensive Coordinator: Press Taylor

Doug Pederson Takeaways & Expectations

Over the course of his career thus far, Doug Pederson's team has averaged 35.12 passing attempts, 238.77 passing yards, and 1.52 passing touchdowns per game in the passing game. These numbers are fairly average on the surface - but it's important to remember that the primary quarterbacks he's worked with thus far in his career are more in the game-manager mold: Alex Smith, Carson Wentz, Nick Foles, and Jalen Hurts. Considering he will get to work with a former first overall pick, Trevor Lawrence, in Jacksonville, there's a decent chance that we see this team a little more willing to throw than some of Pederson's teams in the past and land more in the 36-38 passing attempts per game range.

It's also important to pay attention to the amount of rushing work a quarterback receives since it can be a cheat code in the fantasy football world. Over the course of his career as an offensive playcaller, Pederson's quarterback room has averaged 4.51 carries per game.

Based on the graph above, there doesn't seem to be much of a correlation between Doug Pederson and the rushing usage from his quarterback's room. Because of Lawrence's mobility, much like last year, we can expect Lawrence to bring some fantasy value on the ground in the form of roughly four or five carries per game. From a fantasy perspective, Lawrence should be valued in the  QB2 range going into the 2022 season, but he could end up finishing higher than that with a new coaching staff and another year of experience in the NFL.

Examining Doug Pederson's running back rooms, he's generally done a solid job utilizing and getting production out of the group. Over the course of the 128 games that he's been an offensive playcaller, Pederson's running backs have averaged 21.97 carries, 97.33 rushing yards, and 0.81 rushing touchdowns per game on the ground.

Pederson's running back room has gotten at least 20 carries per game in seven of the eight seasons that he's been an offensive playcaller - which is pretty encouraging if you plan on rostering one of the Jaguars backs. But in terms of the distribution of carries, how often is it going to one player versus Pederson conducting a running back by committee approach?

Looking at the chart above, it seems that Doug Pederson's default is to go running back by committee on the ground. This means Travis Etienne and James Robinson will likely split carries in this offense once Robinson makes his return from the injured list, and could limit the fantasy upside Etienne will have down the stretch for the 2022 season.

The final aspect we should look at concerning Doug Pederson's running backs is how much he has traditionally utilized them in the passing game. Over the course of his career, Pederson's running back room has averaged 4.62 receptions on 6.55 targets for 39.44 receiving yards and 0.27 receiving touchdowns per game.

These career receiving numbers are right around the league averages we've seen for running backs the last couple of years. Based on all of this information, the usage both on the ground and through the air should be around league average in 2022, and Etienne should be featured more as the lead back in the first half of the year with Robinson needing time to recover from his nasty injury. Having said this, for the second half of the season Pederson will likely want to go back to his old ways and utilize James Robinson and Travis Etienne in a committee - so their individual fantasy upsides could be more limited down the stretch.

Looking at the wide receiver position, Doug Pederson has seen his wide receivers average 10.5 receptions on 17.59 targets for 124.31 receiving yards and 0.70 receiving touchdowns per game over the course of his career.

Considering Doug Pederson's wide receiver room has never topped 20 targets per game in any season that he's been in an offensive playcaller position and the Jaguars' wide receivers saw 22.41 targets per game in the 2021 season, there's a good chance that the Jaguars wide receiver room is underwhelming in 2022 from a fantasy perspective.

Finally, Doug Pederson has done a pretty great job of utilizing his tight ends in his previous coaching stops. Over the course of 128 games in an offensive coordinator or head coaching role, Pederson's tight end room has averaged 6.96 receptions on 10.16 targets for 74.86 receiving yards and 0.55 receiving touchdowns per game.

This is one of the best marks among all NFL offensive coordinators and head coaches with previous experience. While it's a lot easier to feed your tight end room to this level when you have players like Travis Kelce, Zach Ertz, and Dallas Goedert, it is encouraging to see and makes it more important to pay attention to any news on the Jaguars tight ends - Evan Engram and Dan Arnold - during the offseason since they have legit TE1 upside.

Fantasy Relevant Players: Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Beathard, James Robinson, Travis Etienne Jr., Ryquell Armstead, Snoop Conner, Christian Kirk, Marvin Jones Jr., Zay Jones, Laviska Shenault Jr., Laquon Treadwell, Jamal Agnew, Evan Engram, Dan Arnold, and Chris Manhertz

2022 Defense

2022 Defensive Coordinator: Mike Caldwell

The Jacksonville Jaguars will have a new defensive coordinator once again in 2022, letting Joe Cullen go and hiring Mike Caldwell to be the new coordinator. This will be Caldwell's first stint as a defensive coordinator, but he's still got a good amount of coaching experience. Listed above are all the coaching roles that Caldwell held prior to becoming the Jaguars' defensive coordinator.

Other Notable Assistants

Special Teams Coordinator: Heath Farwell - The Jacksonville Jaguars completely overhauled the coaching staff, and in that process let Brian Schneider go to hire Heath Farwell as the team's new special teams coordinator. Farwell served as the Buffalo Bills' special teams coordinator from 2019 to 2021. He has served as an assistant special teams coach for the Seattle Seahawks (2016-2017) and the Carolina Panthers (2018). He also played at the NFL level for the Minnesota Vikings (2005-2010) and the Seattle Seahawks (2011-2014).

QB Coach: Mike McCoy - In the new coaching staff, the Jaguars will have a new quarterbacks coach, going from Brian Schottenheimer to Mike McCoy. Mike McCoy hasn't coached in the NFL since 2018 but brings a ton of experience to the table. He's worked as a quarterbacks coach for the Carolina Panthers (2006-2008) and Denver Broncos (2009). He's worked as an offensive coordinator for the Denver Broncos (2009-2012, 2017) and Arizona Cardinals (2018). He's even spent time as an NFL head coach with the San Diego Chargers (2013-2016).

RB Coach: Bernie Parmalee - The only position coach remaining in the same role from the 2021 Jacksonville Jaguars coaching staff is Bernie Parmalee. Prior to joining the Jaguars in 2021, Bernie Parmalee spent time as a running backs coach for the Miami Dolphins (2004), Oakland Raiders (2015-2017), and the Atlanta Falcons (2018, 2020). He also played running back at the NFL level for the Miami Dolphins (1992-1998) and the New York Jets (1999-2000).

WR Coach: Chris Jackson - The Jacksonville Jaguars will have a new wide receivers coach in 2022, going from Sanjay Lal to Chris Jackson. Jackson has coached in a variety of roles for the Chicago Bears (2018-2021) and played in the NFL for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (1998), Seattle Seahawks (1999), Tennessee Titans (2000), Green Bay Packers (2002-2003), and Miami Dolphins (2003).

TE Coach: Richard Angulo - Tyler Bowen is out and Richard Angulo is in as the Jacksonville Jaguars tight ends coach for the 2022 season. Angulo has been coaching football in a variety of roles since 2012 and has previously worked as an NFL tight ends coach for the Baltimore Ravens (2015-2016).

OL Coach: Phil Rauscher - The Jaguars will be making a change with their offensive line coach in 2022, going from George Warhop to Phil Rauscher. Phil Rauscher has been involved in coaching since 2006 and most recently worked as an offensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings (2021).

DL Coach: Brentson Buckner - Another position that Jaguars will be making a change at is defensive line coach, going from Tosh Lupoi to Brentson Buckner. Buckner brings plenty of experience to the table, working as a defensive line coach for the Arizona Cardinals (2013-2017, 2020-2021), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2018), and Oakland Raiders (2019). He also played defensive tackle at the NFL level for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1994-1996), Cincinnati Bengals (1997), San Francisco 49ers (1998-2000), and Carolina Panthers (2001-2005).

OLB Coach: Bill Shuey - The Jaguars will also have a new outside linebackers coach, going from Zachary Orr to Bill Shuey. Bill Shuey has been coaching football since 2000, spending time in a variety of roles for the Philadelphia Eagles (2000-2010) and the Chicago Bears (2018-2021). He most recently served as the outside linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears (2021).

ILB Coach: Tony Gilbert - Charlie Strong is gone and Tony Gilbert will be promoted from assistant linebackers coach (2020-2021) to inside linebackers coach. Gilbert has been coaching since 2011 in a variety of positions and levels and played linebacker at the NFL level for the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-2007) and the Atlanta Falcons (2008-2009).

Cornerbacks Coach: Deshea Townsend - The Jaguars will have a new cornerbacks coach in 2022, going from Tim Walton to Deshea Townsend. Townsend has been coaching defensive backs/secondary in a variety of roles since 2011, spending time in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals (2011-2012), Tennessee Titans (2016-2017), New York Giants (2018), and the Chicago Bears (2019-2021). He also played at the NFL level for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1998-2009) and the Indianapolis Colts (2010).

Safeties Coach: Cody Grimm - The Jaguars will go from Joe Danna and Chris Ash being in charge of the safeties to Cody Grimm serving as the team's safeties coach. Grimm is fairly inexperienced with only one NFL job prior as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense & special teams assistant (2019-2021).

Enjoy this series? Be sure to check out all of the other 'Coaching Matters' team previews!

AFC North: Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South: Houston Texans

Follow Eli Grabanski on Twitter: @3li_handles

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