NFL Head Coach Cuts His Own Son From Roster on Cutdown Day

Doug Pederson cut Josh Pederson from the Jacksonville Jaguars active roster.

By Brian Jones

An NFL head coach had to make one of the toughest decisions in his career. On Tuesday, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson cut his son, tight end Josh Pederson, as all teams had to cut their rosters down to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET. The move wasn't too surprising since the younger Pederson was fifth on the depth chart and the Jaguars decided to keep three tight ends on the roster, per ESPN. 

"I'd want to tell him," Doug Pederson said. "Trent [Baalke] would want to visit with him as well, and I definitely want to talk to him and just let him know — I mean, he's been through this process before with a couple other teams last year. And I'm very familiar with it, obviously, as a former player, and walk him through the process and let him know that everything's going to be OK." The good news is the Jaguars brought Josh Pederson back as he signed to their practice squad according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network. 

Josh Pederson, 25, originally signed with the San Francisco 49ers as an undrafted free agent in 2021. He was cut from the team in August of that year and signed with the New Orleans Saints a couple of days later. Pederson was cut before the 2021 season and did not sign with another NFL team until February 2022 when he joined the Kansas City Chiefs. He was waived from the Chiefs in May of that year and then joined the Houston Texans of the United States Football League (USFL) later that month before being placed on the inactive roster. Pederson returned to the Gamblers in 2023 and caught 24 passes for 325 yards in 10 games. His contract was terminated in July so he could sign with the Jaguars. Pederson played college football at Louisiana-Monroe and was selected to the All-Sun Belt Team twice. 

Doug Pederson, 55, also played for Louisiana-Monroe (then called Northeast Louisiana) from 1987 to 1990 and signed with the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent. He played quarterback and was in the league from 1991-2004. Pederson is known for his time with the Green Bay Packers as Brett Favre's backup and won a Super Bowl with the team in 1996. 

In 2009, Peterson became an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles. He then joined the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff as the offensive coordinator in 2013 before returning the Eagles as the head coach in 2017. Pederson led the Eagles to a Super Bowl win in 2017 and was with the team for another three seasons before leaving the team after the 2020 season. He would then join the Jaguars last year and led the team to their first division title since the 2017 season. 

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