Author Topic: The Jacksonville Jaguars  (Read 4193790 times)

copperfiend

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10980 on: January 06, 2025, 08:53:55 AM »
Nah. They’re keeping Baalke, just like an incompetent franchise would.

Shad Khan has owned the team for almost a decade and a half and still has no idea what he’s doing.

jaxlongtimer

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10981 on: January 06, 2025, 02:46:06 PM »
Pederson fired!  Now, get rid of Baalke.  Just look at his history in free agency.  Armstead, Duvernay, etc.  Little to show for the guaranteed salaries.

I am no expert but I am hearing from some that maybe Baalke should have been let go and that Pederson deserved one more year (without Baalke).  Someone needs to explain to me how much the coach has over things when a GM is responsible for player recruitment.  Regardless, hard to believe they are keeping Baalke.  Lots of questions of what future coach the Jags will be able to recruit working with him.  Maybe he is subservient to Khan so Khan keeps him around as many GM's may not be so willing to do so.  Go figure.

A lot of people feel Jerod Mayo got a raw deal from Kraft at the Patriots.  Only 1 year as a coach taking over a poorly performing team from the prior year.  How fast can a turnaround typically be engineered?

Seems coaches are the fall guys for lots of teams regardless of the hand they are dealt.  I guess that is why they are well paid... it is a job with a typically short life span :)

Ken_FSU

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10982 on: January 06, 2025, 03:20:44 PM »
Truly unhinged. Wild how many new ways the Jags can find to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. What's even wilder is that the decision to retain Trent Baalke seems to have been made in a total vacuum, by Shad Khan alone. There was some pretty open chatter within the organization over the weekend (mainly about the logistics with the bad weather rolling in) that Doug was getting let go after the game. But total radio silence on Trent, beyond speculation that there was no way Trent could be retained. Probably should have taken that as a bad sign instead of getting my hopes up that we'd finally hit the full reset button.

Not sure if anyone saw the 2:00 press conference with Shad and Trent, but it was an all-timer. Zero accountability from Trent for the team's collapse over the last two years, zero accountability from Shad toward Trent. Doesn't sound like Shad talks to anyone in depth about football beyond his existing coaching staff and Trent, nor does it sound like he's got the appetite to do what it takes to fill both positions simultaneously. Doesn't consider Trent's contract to be relevant to the coaching search, and genuinely believes that the sole reason the team fell apart was because of Doug and the defense.

I'm really starting to sour on Shad Khan's arrogance. I deeply appreciate the fact that he honored his word to keep the NFL in Jacksonville, and it's cool that he's investing in the area surrounding the stadium (let's not kid ourselves into thinking it's fully altruistic, however). But it's truly wild how disconnected he is from the average Jacksonville citizen. Will take it one step further and say he probably looks down, purposely or subconsciously, on the average Jacksonville citizen. He doesn't show up to City Council meetings when asking for $700 million from taxpayers. Doesn't attend community events. Stays on his yacht when he's here, rather than on the ground in Jacksonville. When have you ever seen him engage with the community when there wasn't an ask involved? He only talks to the local press in London. And - when a legit 95%+ of your paying Jacksonville supporters are asking for a change, after agreeing to just make the biggest investment in city history to support your business - and you're up there smirking at the podium about the backlash. I don't know.

When you're asking for that much money from the city, you've gotta do better by the locals. And when every NFL source under the sun is saying that the Jags are going to severely handicap their ability to bring in a Top 5 coach if they choose to retain Trent Baalke, and you do keep him onboard anyway despite an abysmal run that has cost your fans millions of dollars to witness firsthand - yuck.

Jax_Developer

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10983 on: January 06, 2025, 03:30:26 PM »
Baalke is a yes man. He's very political. Go look at the 2010-2016 San Francisco Team. He made one of the best young coaches go back to college & had some of the worst management decisions in the modern era at that time. He took a Super Bowl Team to the bottom of the division in 3 years.

The Jags would kill to have the talent the 49'ers did then, and look what happened to them.

Joey Mackey

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10984 on: January 06, 2025, 03:54:46 PM »
Shad obviously thinks the team has great players (He did sign some serious paychecks this past year). Of course, he thinks the person ultimately responsible for identifying and acquiring players is doing a good job.

Ken_FSU

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10985 on: January 06, 2025, 05:25:50 PM »
Shad obviously thinks the team has great players (He did sign some serious paychecks this past year). Of course, he thinks the person ultimately responsible for identifying and acquiring players is doing a good job.

Even if Shad believes that Gabe Davis and Arik Armstead were fantastic signings, and that Travon Walker brings more value to the Jags than Aidan Hutchinson would have, and that “hitting on Trevor Lawrence” by way of having the worst record in the league is a credit to Trent Baalke, and fluking your way into the playoffs once with a barely .500 record in five years signals a winning culture, the facts are - Shad can’t bring the best head coaching candidates to Jacksonville if Trent Baalke is our general manager. We’ve already seen it play out with the last coaching search. Elite candidates are already anonymously telling SI that they are far less likely to consider Jacksonville with Baalke around. Dude really is sending a big middle finger to the fanbase by not holding our front office accountable for a historically awful stretch of losing football.

WarDamJagFan

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10986 on: January 06, 2025, 08:26:32 PM »
I'll put it this way. Shad sounded so dadgum incompetent in that presser today at 2pm that he wouldn't qualify for an H-1B Visa if he applied. I'm tired of hearing people around the organization defend Shad as some sort of genius businessman. He won the lottery with his bumpers. Plain and simple. He couldn't articulate a single coherent thought in those 40 minutes of rambling. Absolute dumpster fire we've got ourselves down at the Bank.

jaxlongtimer

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10987 on: January 06, 2025, 09:25:43 PM »
I think Shad is all business... making money is what motivates him.  Until there is an erosion of the fan base and sponsors that hits him in the pocketbook, he probably isn't going to think differently.  Unfortunately, if that happens, he will probably blame the fans for their "lack of support" as he threatens to move the team.  Not sure if he can do that now with the new stadium deal though.

In fact, the new stadium deal may be the issue here.  It may be so good financially for him, that he will be able to just mostly sell tickets to fans of opposing teams and still make money.  Thus, why worry about how well the Jags perform.

Coincidentally, the Colts just fired their defensive coordinator, ex-Jags coach Gus Bradley.

FYI, based on this seasons results, here is the Jags' home and away setup for the 2025 season.  I assume at least one home and one away game will be in London.
Quote
Jacksonville Jaguars
Home: Texans, Colts, Titans, Chiefs, Chargers, Jets, Rams, Seahawks, Panthers
Away: Texans, Colts, Titans, Broncos, Raiders, Bengals, Cardinals, 49ers

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-finalizes-2025-schedule-of-opponents-here-are-the-home-and-away-games-for-all-32-teams/
« Last Edit: January 06, 2025, 10:10:13 PM by jaxlongtimer »

Joey Mackey

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10988 on: January 07, 2025, 04:38:33 PM »

...the facts are - Shad can’t bring the best head coaching candidates to Jacksonville if Trent Baalke is our general manager. We’ve already seen it play out with the last coaching search. Elite candidates are already anonymously telling SI that they are far less likely to consider Jacksonville with Baalke around. Dude really is sending a big middle finger to the fanbase by not holding our front office accountable for a historically awful stretch of losing football.

I don't think that is a fact, I think that is actually the opposite, its pure speculation echoed so many times by "reporters" and "insiders" that people have been convinced it is a fact. I am not aware of any coach ever saying they are unwilling to accept Jacksonville's HC position because Baalke is the G.M. We didn't miss out on any elite candidates back in 2022 when we hired Pederson, a hire that seemed to be well received. And John Shipley's anonymous prominent coaching source is worthless, for all we know he made it up to generate clicks.

Time will tell. If we end up hiring someone like Jon Gruden then I will eat crow.

Jax_Developer

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10989 on: January 07, 2025, 06:34:27 PM »

...the facts are - Shad can’t bring the best head coaching candidates to Jacksonville if Trent Baalke is our general manager. We’ve already seen it play out with the last coaching search. Elite candidates are already anonymously telling SI that they are far less likely to consider Jacksonville with Baalke around. Dude really is sending a big middle finger to the fanbase by not holding our front office accountable for a historically awful stretch of losing football.

I don't think that is a fact, I think that is actually the opposite, its pure speculation echoed so many times by "reporters" and "insiders" that people have been convinced it is a fact. I am not aware of any coach ever saying they are unwilling to accept Jacksonville's HC position because Baalke is the G.M. We didn't miss out on any elite candidates back in 2022 when we hired Pederson, a hire that seemed to be well received. And John Shipley's anonymous prominent coaching source is worthless, for all we know he made it up to generate clicks.

Time will tell. If we end up hiring someone like Jon Gruden then I will eat crow.

Baalke:

- Fired Jim Harbaugh 1 week after the season ended (& literally tried to fire him mid-season - they just went to the SB)
- Hired Chip Kelly once he did a search after the interim

^ That tells you everything you need to know. Jim is a generational coach. Chip... well he isn't a HC anymore lol. There isn't a world in which keeping Baalke is a good decision & coaches will 100% not consider Jacksonville because of him. Khan & Baalke's interview speaks volumes on the situation.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2025, 06:37:45 PM by Jax_Developer »

Fallen Buckeye

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10990 on: January 09, 2025, 12:49:36 PM »
Quote
"You've got 85 people working on that side [of the organization] and you say, 'I'm going to get rid of them and find 85 new people that are going to be better than that?' That's like shooting yourself in the foot. I mean, we need to go to work on something that is broken, that needs to be fixed, and continually be improving things that are working."
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/43308698/jaguars-fire-head-coach-doug-pederson-4-13-season

This quote says a lot. Khan is a businessman. The on-field only has to be good enough to keep fans coming to games and if they are good then that's a bonus. Pederson was the fall guy because someone had to take the blame, but the expense and hassle of paying severance to 85 people plus the coaching staff is not worth it from his perspective.

There have been many years where we were near the top of the league in salary cap space, and without the league minimums I bet we'd be up there every year. They minimize salaries as long as they can, then spend when they have to. That gets a decent team ever few years to keep fans from outright revolting. He also has a history of letting people stay longer than they merit.

Bottom line, Shad is most concerned about managing costs and public perception not football and not community pride.

Ken_FSU

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10991 on: January 09, 2025, 09:45:24 PM »
He also has a history of letting people stay longer than they merit.

If there is some small silver lining to this, if I'm looking at the Jags opening from the perspective of a potential head coach, at the very least I know that I'm going to get a very long rope. You look at Robert Kraft firing Jerod Mayo after one season. Or the Bears firing Matt Eberflus midseason. Or the Raiders firing Antonio Pierce after 26 games. Meanwhile, Shad Khan gave Doug Pederson 51 games (despite a 43% win percentage), Doug Marrone got 65 games (with a 39% win percentage), and Gus Bradley got a staggering 62 games despite a 23% winning percentage. Whether that's loyalty or laziness is up for debate, but it's GOTTA be attractive, particularly for a coordinator moving to HC for the first time, just knowing that you're going to get some time to make it work.

Have talked myself back into it - Ben Johnson as HC.


WarDamJagFan

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10992 on: January 10, 2025, 10:24:59 AM »
The problem is still Khan's decision to not rid the building of the rot he's allowed to fester. Baalke is still only under contract for one more year and Khan refused to answer if there would be any extension of said contract. That leaves a huge question mark for a coach coming in as they won't know who their GM will be after their first season. Khan did leave the door open, I guess, that changes to the GM are still on the table should his preferred candidate demand it. That said, Khan has given us zero reason to believe that would ever happen based on his last umpteen years of ownership.

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times. We suck until we don't. I've resigned to the fact we will always suck outside of an occasional hiccup under Khan's "leadership".

Snaketoz

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10993 on: January 20, 2025, 07:17:56 PM »
I've read online that Ben Johnson is going to be the Bear's new HC.  Many believe he decided Trent Baalke wasn't worth coming to Jacksonville.  Wake up Shad!
“No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot.”

Charles Hunter

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Re: The Jacksonville Jaguars
« Reply #10994 on: January 20, 2025, 08:07:50 PM »
I've read online that Ben Johnson is going to be the Bear's new HC.  Many believe he decided Trent Baalke wasn't worth coming to Jacksonville.  Wake up Shad!

The WJXT 6 o'clock news reported that Johnson was going to the Bears.