Doug Pederson on final roster spots: ‘It boils down to special teams’

The Jacksonville Jaguars are days away from making some tough calls to cut down the roster from 90 players to 53.

With more roster depth than the franchise has had in a long time, the bittersweet reality is that the Jaguars have no choice but to allow a lot of talented players hit the waiver wire. And when Jaguars coach Doug Pederson and his staff make the toughest calls, he’ll be focusing on one element in particular to sort things out.

“It gets real fine. It really boils down to special teams,” Pederson told reporters on Thursday. “That’s the third element to our team. Again, my message has always been, you may not be the starter on offense or defense, but you’re a starter on special teams.

“You need to embrace that role, especially if you’re a new rookie whether you’re drafted or undrafted. A second-year player, whatever it might be, that’s kind of your niche to make our roster. It gets a little finer, the more depth you have on your team. It does get harder for those guys to break in.”

The Jaguars had a few stellar special teamers during the 2022 season like Caleb Johnson, Chris Claybrooks, and Daniel Thomas. All three of those players are hoping that’s their path to a roster spot again in 2023, but there’s no shortage of young players aiming to take their place.

“I never really appreciated this part of it,” Pederson said. “You disrupt the lives of guys that have been busting their tail for six weeks plus the offseason. It’s a tough time.

“I just tell the guys all the time, you’re competing for our roster, but there’s 31 other rosters that are watching you, too. It may be the end of the line here, but it’s not the end of the line on another team so put your best foot forward.”

Jaguars third-string quarterback Nathan Rourke spoke to that sentiment earlier in the week, telling News4Jax that he has to “make some film for other teams if it doesn’t work out here.”

Every NFL team has to cut down to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday.