Gene Frenette's sports menu: Jaguars coach Pederson chases NFL history; Ivy Leaguer payday

When Jaguars coach Doug Pederson led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl title in 2017, the city of Brotherly Love was euphoric because it hadn’t won an NFL championship since 1960 behind league MVP and quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.

Now that Pederson is in Jacksonville, where the Jaguars have no Super Bowl appearances and just one winning season the past 14 years, he admits the possibility of pulling off the same feat for another NFL franchise experiencing a championship drought occasionally creeps into this thought process.

“You do sit and think about moments like that,” said Pederson. “It was very special in Philly to bring a championship to that city and those people. It’s generational — the city of Philadelphia and to see the excitement and joy on their faces. And then you transition to here, you think about the history of the Jaguars and how close they were just a few years ago to possibly playing us in the Super Bowl and how exciting, even from afar, you could see how exciting the [Jaguars] fan base was at that time.

“I kind of put myself in that situation where, first of all, let me go out and say we’re a long from [winning a Super Bowl], but you do think about that. . . . The impact would be great.”

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For a coach leading his second franchise, it would also be an unprecedented feat in NFL history. Only seven coaches have led two different teams to a Super Bowl – Don Shula, Bill Parcells, Dick Vermeil, Dan Reeves, Mike Holmgren, John Fox and current Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid – but none of them hoisted a Lombardi Trophy at both stops.

Now Weeb Ewbank did win Super Bowl III with the New York Jets and also won two NFL championships with the Baltimore Colts (1958-59), but that was nearly a decade before the Super Bowl game became reality.

So Pederson, who captured his first title in just his second season leading the Eagles, has a chance to become the first head coach in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with two different franchises. The only current head coach with the same opportunity this season is the Dallas Cowboys’ Mike McCarthy, who won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers in 2010.

As preposterous as winning it all might seem for Pederson at the moment, consider the Eagles’ Super Bowl season was launched with a second-year quarterback in Carson Wentz. He led them to an NFC East title before a torn ACL injury forced Philly to turn to veteran backup and future Jaguar Nick Foles, who had a glorious postseason run.

With the Jaguars’ significant personnel upgrade in the offseason and second-year QB Trevor Lawrence primed for a turnaround, there’s no telling how far Pederson might take this franchise.

But it’s hard for Pederson not to dream big, especially after ascending to the top of the football world when nobody expected it. . . .

Big payday for Ivy Leaguer

The arrival of Jaguars free agent linebacker Foyesade Oluokun was significant for reasons beyond acquiring a player who evolved into a tackle machine for the Atlanta Falcons.

The fifth-year player from Yale signed a three-year, $45 million contract, the second-highest total package in NFL history for someone from an Ivy League school.

Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick set the standard in 2011 when he signed a six-year, $59 million deal with the Buffalo Bills, though he only played there two years and his guaranteed money of $24 million was $4 million less than Oluokun.

Before Oluokun, the last Ivy Leaguer to make a Jaguars’ roster was Princeton tight end Seth DeValve, who caught 12 passes for 140 yards in 2019.

Working on Engram drop issues

One Lawrence target who stood out the first week of Jaguars training camp, and not for making big plays, was tight end Evan Engram.

During early-period individual quarterback drills, Engram was the only player catching passes. All other receivers and tight ends were working on another part of the field.

There’s a good reason why Engram, acquired in free agency on a one-year, $9 million contract, is getting that extra work.

During his five NFL seasons, the 2017 first-round draft pick of the New York Giants has been among the league leaders in dropped passes.

One of Engram’s most infamous drops came in a 22-21 road loss to Pederson’s Eagles in 2020.

Despite having a full step on his defender, Engram let a perfectly thrown ball for a possible TD go off his hands in Eagles territory, foiling a chance to add to the Giants’ 21-16 lead with 2:14 remaining.

Instead, Philly won the game 22-21 on a Wentz TD pass to Boston Scott in the final minute. The last thing Pederson needs this season is the speedy Engram having more drop issues, so the Jaguars are taking every precaution.

Unfortunately, Engram had a pass go through his hands Thursday, which ricocheted off a defender and resulted in a diving interception by Shaq Griffin. Boy, did that ever get the Giants' fans chirping on social media.

A different Gators’ QB

Denny Thompson, the Jacksonville quarterback whisperer who has been tutoring Anthony Richardson since high school, is convinced Florida’s starting QB will be far more polished as a passer and leader this season.

For all of Richardson’s obvious physical talent and skill as a runner, his consistency throwing the ball left a lot to be desired last season. But with Emory Jones out of the picture and Richardson knowing it’s now his job, his tutor believes Gators’ fans will see a transformed quarterback in 2022.

“We were very specific about what we wanted to work on, spent a lot of time on mechanics,” Thompson said. “We almost treated this offseason like [NFL] draft prep training. It was super specific to Anthony’s body, made a couple mechanical changes.

“The last month, he’s been throwing the leather off the ball. If they changed the rules of football and said the quarterback can’t run, he’d still be a first-round pick. He’s throwing it that well.

“He’s worked really hard on his leadership. Anthony is an introverted guy, not rah-rah, and sometimes it’s difficult for guys like that to lead a locker room. But from what we’re seeing in his maturation process, it’s really two different kids from last year.” . . .

Prime Time has a point

Jackson State coach Deion Sanders offered a thumbs-down response when asked about playing his team’s Oct. 15 game against Bethune-Cookman University at TIAA Bank Field, saying “Who’s going to be there?” His fear is that attendance will be too sparse to give the environment a big-time atmosphere.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback from Florida State has been a godsend in helping to promote football at HBCUs, and based on recent attendance history for BCU games, there’s an element of truth to what he’s saying.

Bethune hasn’t played a game in Jacksonville since a 2006 season-opening loss to Southern in the Gateway Classic and only averaged 5,322 fans at home games last year.

Cam Smith future bears watching

Since his almost-perfect final round 64 to win the Open Championship, Ponte Vedra Beach resident Cam Smith has been rather quiet about speculation that he could be joining LIV Golf at some point in the future.

It's clear the controversial, Saudi-backed golf league isn't going away, and if it lands the 28-year-old Aussie who is the No. 2 player in the world, that'd be a significant blow for the PGA Tour.

Smith issued a non-denial when asked about joining LIV in his Open post-victory press conference, insinuating the team around him will make that call.

As I wrote four weeks ago, the Tour and LIV Golf may be better off trying to find a way to co-exist than continue to engage in a cold war.

Moving on from Jaguars beat

Longtime T-U colleague and Jaguars beat writer, John Reid, decided to leave the journalism business last week to become a high school social science teacher, partly due to family considerations and a more accommodating time schedule.

After his 34-year run in the sports media, preceded by playing linebacker/safety at Ribault High and Louisiana-Monroe, best wishes to John in his next chapter.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540

Gene Frenette Sports columnist at Florida Times-Union, follow him on Twitter @genefrenette

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars' Pederson relishes chance to duplicate Super Bowl feat in Philly