Doug Pederson already asking for patience in Jaguars rebuild

The Jacksonville Jaguars are a mess of an NFL franchise and it seems like Doug Pederson, their new head coach, is more than aware of that fact.

Doug Pederson definitely knows the Jacksonville Jaguars stink.

As Pederson, the new head coach for the Jaguars, is assessing his new franchise and examining the situation as it currently stands, he’s already noting that Jaguars fans will need to have some patience as the franchise enters a new era.

As Jelani Scott of NFL.com writes, Pederson is acknowledging how Jacksonville fans have endured less-than-stellar results lately and is expressing a desire for fans to give him a shot.

“This is not an overnight fix,” Pederson said. “This is not, we’re just going to snap our fingers and start winning football games.”

Well, at least he’s honest and upfront about where this team stands.

“Our goal is to win football games, but we’re going to do it one player, one coach, one person in the organization at a time,” Pederson continued. “And I’ll challenge our team, and I’ll challenge our fans. It’s about ownership. It’s about support. It’s about leadership. And that’s what I’ll bring. That’s what I’ll bring to the organization. And I’m not going to settle for anything less than a championship-caliber team.”

Having a championship-caliber team in Jacksonville certainly would be fascinating to see.

Doug Pederson looking for patience from fans as Jaguars try to rebuild

Whenever a head coach is hired, fans typically don’t want to have their expectations tamped down a bit. In certain situations, that’s absolutely the right thing to do, but the optics generally aren’t always good and it dampens the excitement that comes with starting a new era.

But sometimes it’s necessary.

The Jaguars are not in a good place right now. The Urban Meyer experiment was a disaster that never should have taken place. Sure, Pederson has some promising young talent with potential, such as quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll be playing at a high level any time soon. He’s young and will likely be pretty inconsistent as he develops.

Taking a look around at the rest of the roster and things aren’t exactly all that great.

Pederson is right. This isn’t an overnight fix. He’ll likely need some time to get pieces in place. Asking for patience is a smart play here. But Jaguars fans deserve to see a winning team. Pederson will ultimately need to deliver that if he’s wanting people to be patient.