Doug Pederson is hiring a one-time Eagles teammate as his defensive coordinator with the Jaguars, according to an NFL Network report.
Pederson's first hire as head coach of the Jaguars is Mike Caldwell, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo.
Pederson and Caldwell were teammates on the 1999 Eagles and colleagues on Andy Reid's Eagles coaching staff from 2009 through 2012.
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This will be Caldwell's first defensive coordinator job after 14 years as a defensive assistant.
Caldwell, 50, was a 3rd-round pick of the original Browns in 1993 out of Middle Tennessee State and after four years in Cleveland and Baltimore and one year with the Cardinals, he signed with the Eagles in 1998 and spent four years here, playing in 62 games with 29 starts at outside linebacker. He finished his 11-year career with single seasons with the Bears and Panthers.
Like so many others, Caldwell's first coaching job came courtesy of Reid, who hired him in 2008 as an entry-level quality control coach. After two years in that role, he was promoted to assistant linebackers coach, working alongside LBs coach Sean McDermott, now the head coach of the Bills. Caldwell took over LBs full-time in 2011, replacing Bill Shuey, and when Reid was fired after the 2012 season, Reid's last defensive coordinator, Todd Bowles, took Caldwell with him to Arizona, where Bowles became Bruce Arians' defensive coordinator.
After two years with the Cards and four years coaching linebackers with the Jets under Bowles, Caldwell went to Tampa in 2019 with Bowles under Arians, winning a Super Bowl ring in 2020.
NFL
Caldwell has worked with or under numerous legendary defensive coaches, starting out with Browns head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Nick Saban in the early 1990s, Marvin Lewis with the Ravens and Jim Johnson with the Eagles.
Caldwell is the fifth member of the 1999 Eagles to become an NFL defensive coordinator, along with Leslie Frazier, Steve Spagnuolo, Ron Rivera and McDermott, who were all assistants under Johnson.
Caldwell's niece Nikki Caldwell played on the 1991 Tennessee NCAA champion women's basketball team, is a former UCLA and LSU women's basketball coach and the current president of the Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA.
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