Jaguars owner Shad Khan has jinxed himself.
Ahead of the 2024 training camp and preseason in Jacksonville, Khan addressed the team and explicitly expressed his expectations that it would win football games, implicitly demanding that the Jaguars emerge as legitimate contenders in the NFL playoffs .
The club published Khan's comment in a before the campaign started.
“About a month ago we celebrated the city’s partnership with the Jaguars and the approval of financing for the new stadium . So I met with the reporters and obviously the discussion quickly turned to football and I was told, 'For us now the expectation is to win,'” Khan recalls.
“Really me [have] I was looking forward to tonight to set the record straight. I wasn't misquoted. And let me repeat: winning now is the expectation. Make no mistake, this is the best team the Jacksonville Jaguars have ever assembled. Best players, best coaches. But most importantly, we prove it by winning now.”
What or who gave Khan this impression is unclear. The 2024 Jaguars, now 2-9 and the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL draft, had not done padded workouts at the time, although they had by over $100 million.
But Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson made two things clear Monday: It wasn't him and he's not sure who gave Khan the idea.
“I don’t know,” Pederson said. “I am not privy to the conversations Shad has or who he talks to. I don't know. I can’t answer that.”
When asked if it was he who had given such high praise, Pederson was pressed even further and quickly dismissed the claim.
“No,” he said, seeming to shake his head.
Pederson, who added that he spoke with Kahn shortly afterward however, understood where the long-time owner of the franchise was coming from.
“I mean, obviously at the start of the season you have high expectations for your football team, and you should,” he explained. “Everyone does it. Start of camp, start of regular season, and rightly so.”
However, the Jaguars are nowhere near that mark as they are in the midst of their second four-game losing streak of the year.
Jacksonville general manager Trent Baalke has depleted significant resources this offseason, not just through spending but also through the issuance of nine NFL draft picks, a plethora of moves that likely influenced Khan's encouraging opinion of the Jaguars.
But Baalke didn't build on a performance that should have inspired Khan. After opening the 2023 season 8-3 and firmly in control of the AFC South, the Jaguars went 1-5 in their final six games and missed the playoffs, prompting an aggressive offseason approach in 2024.
The plan backfired. The Jaguars became the first team to be eliminated from contention for a playoff spot this season when the final whistle blew in Detroit on Sunday .
Pederson expressed his appreciation for the timing of Jacksonville's bye in Week 12, particularly after the loss to Detroit, and praised the Jaguars players for weathering the wear and tear of 11 consecutive games, stating the embarrassing performance not a reflection of the team's abilities or lack thereof.
He believes the week off should benefit the Jaguars by giving players a chance to refresh and coaches to recalibrate their approach before the final six games.
“I take my hat off to these players because of their performance,” Pederson said.
“And yes, you can criticize me all you want, point the finger at me. That's okay, because that's where it starts. But the players give their best every day. Yesterday was not who we are.”