The Bucs didn’t lose offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich this offseason, but they did lose another assistant to the Jaguars. Leftwich interviewed to be Jacksonville’s head coach and was a one-time front-runner to get the job. Instead, the Jaguars hired former Eagles Super Bowl-winning head coach Doug Pederson. Bucs inside linebackers coach is being hired as Pederson’s defensive coordinator, according to a report by NFL insider Mike Garafolo.

Caldwell joined Bruce Arians staff back in Arizona in 2013 and was the Cardinals inside linebackers coach for two seasons. When Arizona defensive coordinator Todd Bowles became the head coach with the Jets, Bowles took Caldwell to New York.

Caldwell coached linebackers and was his assistant head coach from 2015-18. Bowles was fired after the 2018 season, and he and Caldwell reunited with Arians in Tampa Bay in 2019. Caldwell resumed his duties as Arians’ inside linebackers coach.

Caldwell, an NFL linebacker for 11 years, and Pederson played together with the Eagles in 1999. They then coached together in Philadelphia from 2009-12 on Andy Reid’s staff.

Jacksonville ended up hiring Pederson over a week after it looked like Leftwich might become the Jaguars next head coach. But Leftwich did not want to work with general manager Trent Baalke, and one of his demands was that the Jaguars replace him with Cardinals vice president of pro personnel Adrian Wilson. Jacksonville owner Shad Khan didn’t want to do that and hired Pederson to replace Urban Meyer instead.