REPORT: JAGUARS HIRE MIKE MCCOY AS QUARTERBACKS COACH

According to Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport, the Jaguars have hired former Chargers’ head coach Mike McCoy to be their quarterbacks coach. McCoy, 49, is the first reported assistant coach hire for the Jaguars. 

McCoy’s coaching career has gone much better than his short career as professional quarterback. McCoy went undrafted in 1995 and eventually found his way to NFL Europe and the Canadian Football League. But McCoy did meet Jaguars’ head coach Doug Pederson — who also signed with the Packers in 1995 — when he was signed to the Packers’ practice squad after a string of injuries at the quarterback position. Apparently, the two were roommates for a brief period of time. That relationship appears to be paying divdends for McCoy now.

In 2000, after five years of fighting for a professional career, McCoy went into coaching, joining the Panther’s staff as an offensive assistant. He was promoted to wide receivers coach in 2001, eventually became the quarterbacks coach in 2004, and then took on the role of passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2007. He got his first gig as an offensive coordinator in 2009 with the Broncos, where he worked with and got the best out of Kyle Orton, Tim Tebow, and Peyton Manning. McCoy parlayed his success in Denver to a head coaching job with the Chargers. He lead the Chargers to a playoff victory during his first season with the team in 2013, but struggled to find success over the following three seasons. After the Chargers fired McCoy, he ended up back in Denver in 2017 as the offensive coordinator under Vance Joseph, but didn’t last the season. In 2018, he joined the Cardinals under Steve Wilks, but again got the ax during the season, and was ironically replaced by Byron Leftwich. 

Mike McCoy hasn’t been in the NFL in any official capacity since 2018. Out of the league for four years, it’s a bit curious that Doug Pederson elected to roll with McCoy as the quarterbacks coach for Trevor Lawrence, whose development is critical to the overall success of the franchise. But that likely indicates how strongly Pederson feels about McCoy’s ability to groom quarterbacks. And he has gotten the most out of almost all the quarterbacks he’s worked with over the years. In Carolina, Jake Delhomme had some of his most productive seasons with Mike McCoy. Kyle Orton performed at a high level under McCoy in Denver. He helped Tim Tebow resemble a real NFL quarterback, and oversaw Peyton Manning’s historic 2012 campaign. And Philip Rivers threw at least 29 touchdown passes in each season that McCoy was in San Diego. 2017 and 2018 were forgettable years for McCoy as an offensive coordinator, but his prior record as a developer of quarterbacks speaks for itself. He’s now tasked with developing one of the top quarterback prospects in recent memory, 2021 first overall pick Trevor Lawrence. Adding someone with such a strong history of quarterback development to the room feels like a win, even if McCoy fizzled out as an offensive coordinator in less than ideal situations. I’m curious to find out what Mike McCoy has been doing over the last four years. 

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