The Jacksonville Jaguars are the only team to stand at 0 without any win in this season so far! That itself tells what the Jags’ locker room must be experiencing. Lack of confidence? Loads of frustration? Yeah, maybe these could summarize their situation at present, as according to NFL insider, Jordan Schultz, the head coach of Jacksonville, Doug Pederson, “had lost the locker room.”

Explaining his point further and the foreseen future of the coach and the team, Schultz joined a recent episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd podcast on October 3. He pointed out that Jaguars owner Shad Khan is generally patient, only making drastic moves when absolutely necessary, like when he fired Urban Meyer in 2021. However, according to him, the team has been struggling, especially with Trevor Lawrence at quarterback, losing nine straight games. Hence, he added, “If they lose this week, that’ll be 10 straight losses with Trevor Lawrence at the helm.” And that’s arguably shameful for any team in the league.

Schultz further recalled how the team is paying their top players like Arik Armstead, Tyson Campbell, Josh Hines, and Lawrence. Still, the team is underperforming. He mentioned that the Jaguars at least should have a better record, maybe 2-2 instead of 0-4. And now, as they are going for their upcoming games in London, which is like a second home for the Jaguars, the continuous losses might bring a growing concern about how much longer Doug Pederson can hold on as head coach.

But for now, Schultz didn’t think that Doug Pederson is on the hot seat. However, as the players have expressed that the “locker room doesn’t really believe in the head coach anymore,” especially after he publicly blamed them following the loss to the Texans, things can turn otherwise. Moreover, the analyst further pointed out the mistake of Doug Pederson, saying, “When you come out and start blaming players the way that he did after the loss to the Texans where they really blew that game, that’s not the way to coach in today’s day and age.” This is because as former coach Dave Wannstedt said earlier, per Cowherd, “You can lose games, you can’t lose the locker room,” as it’s more damaging.

Adding his point on it, Schultz further compared the NBA’s locker room, which consists of only 12 players, to that of the NFL locker room, which consists of 53 players with different personalities and egos. Hence, “You need the respect of the locker room….But when you start turning on your players as the head coach, I recognize that as the beginning of the end. And I just don’t know how much longer he’s going to be able to withstand it. Eventually he is going to be the scapegoat if they don’t turn it around.” However, coach Doug Pederson himself has a point to make on this matter, as he tried to clear the rumors a couple of days ago.

Doug Pederson is confident that he hasn’t created behind-the-scenes discord?

Before heading to the coach Doug Pederson’s comments, let’s see what quarterback Trevor Lawrence has to say about the Jaguars HC. This is because he knows what a broken locker room feels like, as during his rookie season, he lived through former coach Urban Meyer. But this season? He’s confident that it’s nothing like that. When the media asked him about the reports claiming that head coach Doug Pederson lost the trust of the players, Lawrence didn’t hold back. Without any hesitation, he stated, “Not at all, and I don’t know where that’s coming from, so I don’t even want to really expand on something that’s just not true.” That’s a huge trust on their coach by a QB.

On the other hand, when Doug Pederson was asked the same question, he stood by his team. Speaking to the media, the HC said, “Yeah, I would know. I talk to these guys every day. I see ’em every day and, no, I have not lost the locker room. I think these guys have done everything I’ve asked. They continue to play and practice hard and battle, and it’s a good group. It’s a good group. The right leaders are in there and they know what we need to do and they’re not making excuses for it, and I’m not going to make excuses; we just got to go do it.”

So, all in all, the Jaguars are 0-4, but Lawrence and Pederson, according to them, aren’t making excuses. Nevertheless, this Sunday, the Jaguars face the Colts. And despite the rough start, they’re looking to make their first win of the season.