Jaguars coach Doug Peterson gave his son Josh a chance in the preseason game against the Cowboys – as a long snapper. And the junior caused a stir.

The period leading up to the start of the NFL season is exciting, thrilling, multi-layered.

And sucks. Sad. Burdensome.

Because coaches have to make all kinds of unpleasant decisions before the cuts. Tough ones, some of them borderline, to trim squads to the size of 53 players. And then have the appropriate conversations with the players.

For Doug Pederson, it could be especially tough. That’s because the Jacksonville Jaguars’ squad also includes his son, Josh. The Jaguars signed the tight end a few weeks ago.

Pederson played all ten games for the Houston Gamblers in the USFL last season. He caught 25 passes for 325 yards (without a touchdown), which ranked third among tight ends in receiving yards.

Furthermore, Pederson went unselected in the 2021 NFL Draft before signing with the San Francisco 49ers but was released that August, as he was a short time later with the New Orleans Saints. In February 2022, he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs on a reserve/future contract but was released in May. He then joined the Gamblers.

Unexpected Opportunity

And now he actually got quite an unexpected chance under his father. Long snapper Ross Matiscik had injured his shoulder early in the game against the Dallas Cowboys. Pederson sent his son onto the field as a replacement.

Not everything went according to plan, which caused a lot of jokes and discussions among NFL fans.

Hilarious snap pic.twitter.com/5ymsb20Fuw

– Billy M (@BillyM_91) August 12, 2023

The odds of the son not making the cut with the father have increased. Pederson had been given slim chances anyway with competition from Evan Engram, rookie Brenton Strange, Luke Farrell and Gerrit Prince. He hasn’t shone as a long snapper now either. But there are still two games to come and so perhaps more chances.

“Unfortunately, Ross was taken out of the game on the first punt, so we didn’t have a long snapper for the rest of the game,” Doug Pederson said. “We made a lot of 4th downs that we wouldn’t normally make and then a lot of two-point conversions that we wouldn’t normally make. It was good to see Josh step in and have punt snaps and be effective, but we’ll see where Ross is this week. “