The Jacksonville Jaguars will have a new play-caller on Sunday.
After head coach Doug Pederson took the lead on play-calling duties a year ago, the responsibility will now be passed down to offensive coordinator and long-time Pederson assistant Press Taylor, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.
"I totally trust Press," Pederson told Rapoport. "We think alike. We've been together for a long time, and he's around Trevor all the time and knows what Trevor likes."
Rapoport noted that not only did Taylor call plays during the preseason, but he also called plays at times in the second halves of games a year ago.
"It's kind of like coach (Andy) Reid did with me in 2015 in Kansas City," Pederson said. "Coach Reid would call the first half and he would let me call the second half with a very watchful eye."
Pederson and Taylor have long-established ties, with Pederson's final stages as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles centering around his desire to name Taylor his offensive coordinator, and the subsequent pushback he received.
Taylor spent the 2021 season as a senior offensive assistant with the Indianapolis Colts after spending eight seasons (2013-20) in a variety of roles with the Philadelphia Eagles, including passing game coordinator.
Under Pederson and Taylor, the Jaguars improved from 32nd to 10th in points per game, 28th to 8th in EPA/Play, 19th to 5th in success rate, and 27th to 8th in DVOA. The Jaguars went 9-8, won the AFC South and advanced to the second round of the playoffs after a Wild Card win over the Los Angeles Chargers, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence earning a Pro Bowl nod to top it all off.
"Yeah, Press and I, when I was hired in 2016, Chip Kelly was the coach there for three years, and actually brought Press on board as an offensive quality control, and he worked with the QBs," Pederson said after hiring Taylor last year. "I kept him in that role, then I moved him around a couple years later into the receiver room, and just kind of kept listening to him, giving him more responsibility every year that I was a head coach, and then eventually got him into the quarterback room, became a pass game coordinator for me, and just a guy that is highly intelligent, very smart.
"He's detailed. He's organized. He's the type of guy that as I went through my tenure there in Philadelphia, he's the kind of -- you always have the coaches you keep your eye on, and he was always one of those guys for me that I kept my eye on. I knew that one day I think he was going to be an offensive coordinator. I felt that in my heart that he could be. I was going to eventually make him a coordinator possibly in Philadelphia, and things changed. Yeah, I'm so excited for him because of the working relationship that we've had and how we think alike and how we bounce ideas off each other, and just looking forward to watching him flourish from here."
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