The Jacksonville Jaguars

[BridgeTroll]

Robert Saleh looks like the front runner…

[jaxlongtimer]

CBS Sports says Baalke likely reason Ben Johnson goes to Chicago:

Ben Johnson choosing Bears over Jags shows Caleb Williams' upside, unwillingness to work with Trent Baalke
The Bears might have hit a home run, but it could say even more about another franchise

....Which leads us to Jacksonville. It remains completely stunning the Jags continue to employ GM Trent Baalke, who has overseen the Urban Meyer disaster and managed to weasel his way out of trouble by shifting blame onto Doug Pederson. Johnson was definitely interested in the Jaguars gig -- that's been a poorly-kept secret around the league for months.

The Lions most offensive explosive day came against Jacksonville, when Johnson's unit dropped a 50-burger on the hapless Jaguars defense. It should have been clear at that very moment that Shad Khan needed to do whatever he needed to get Johnson in the building.

It's an easier division with a potential franchise quarterback in Trevor Lawrence and would have gotten Johnson and his family back to the southeast, where both he and his wife are from. He was willing to take on the Lions and Vikings and Packers -- all ascending teams who made the playoffs this year -- six times a year instead of dealing with the setup in Jacksonville.

This isn't the first time a (potentially) great head coach has been chased from a franchise by Baalke either. Baalke famously feuded with Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco, winning a power struggle with the mercurial coach and sending him to Michigan, where he would eventually win a national title before returning to the NFL with the Chargers this year. Baalke would oversee the disasters that were Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly before getting the boot and slinking his way into the Jags front office, eventually replacing Dave Caldwell when his old boss got fired by Jacksonville.

Baalke's never been hired as a general manager without working in the organization first and outside of the time he spent with Harbaugh and a somewhat fluky 2022 run by the Jaguars, hasn't had much success with his rosters. Trevor Lawrence was a layup first overall and hasn't panned out the way his pedigree expected. Taking Travon Walker over Aiden Hutchinson was a really poor decision, and one that felt fueled by Hutch playing for Harbaugh at Michigan and a scouting blind spot related to the length of his arms. The latest foul up for the Jags GM appears to be serving as somewhat of a tiebreaker for the hottest head coaching candidate on the market.

Johnson ultimately picked the Bears because of Williams and his upside, especially on a rookie contract. There's no doubt about that and it says a lot about Caleb's potential. But the decision to choose Chicago also speaks volumes about the situation in Jacksonville and it should tamper enthusiasm for a slam-dunk hire in this cycle.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/ben-johnson-choosing-bears-over-jags-shows-caleb-williams-upside-unwillingness-to-work-with-trent-baalke/

[Ken_FSU]

Tossing everything else aside about economic development, and downtown revitalization, etc:

Shad Khan has ruined our football franchise.

I don't think there's any getting around that.

Statistically, obviously the Jags have been the absolute worst team in the NFL since he's bought the team. That's not a subjective opinion, the team has lost 70% of its games under his watch. With zero sign of things turning around.

He hired Urban Meyer.

He let Jalen Ramsey walk.

He kept Gus Bradley around for 30 years.

He's dangerously close to ruining Trevor Lawrence.

And now, a second coaching search cycle has been tanked by his unwillingness to part ways with a GM that top coaching candidates needed to turn the franchise around are unwilling to work with.

Definition of insanity is that Zoom conference where Shad Khan is up there in front of reporters, saying that he and Trent are going to find a candidate who "believe in what we're doing in this building." What you're doing, sir, is perpetually being the worst fucking team in the NFL, while setting new records for futility every week. It's not working.

Guy clearly doesn't care about the Jacksonville fans in the slightest if he's heard the Trent Baalke noise for years, sees the record on the field, and can't even be bothered to get off his boat long enough to reset the worst franchise in the league on the field.

[Fallen Buckeye]

Statistically, obviously the Jags have been the absolute worst team in the NFL since he's bought the team. That's not a subjective opinion, the team has lost 70% of its games under his watch. With zero sign of things turning around.

As a lifelong Browns fan, I have to disagree, but it is close. lol. Somehow they have an even worse owner on all fronts. At least, Shad has shown interest in developing the stadium area.

Jimmy Haslam wants taxpayers to fund building a new stadium completely separated from all the investment and infrastructure Cleveland has poured into their sports district. And don't get me started on him foisting the Deshaun Watson contract on his front office.

[copperfiend]

CBS Sports says Baalke likely reason Ben Johnson goes to Chicago:

There were also reports he was close to taking the Raiders job. And today multiple reports that Johnson preferred to work with Caleb Williams over Trevor Lawrence.

It seems much more likely Johnson used the Raiders and Jaguars to get a fat deal with the Bears.

[copperfiend]

Statistically, obviously the Jags have been the absolute worst team in the NFL since he's bought the team. That's not a subjective opinion, the team has lost 70% of its games under his watch. With zero sign of things turning around.
 

Growing up in a family of Bucs fans, I remember their owner Hugh Culverhouse was viewed as the gold standard of bad NFL owners.

Culverhouse ended up 81-194 (.295) as Bucs owner from 1976-1993.

Khan is 64-148 (.302) as Jaguars owner from 2012-2024. Just barely ahead of the guy considered possibly the worst owner in league history.

[Ken_FSU]

CBS Sports says Baalke likely reason Ben Johnson goes to Chicago:

There were also reports he was close to taking the Raiders job. And today multiple reports that Johnson preferred to work with Caleb Williams over Trevor Lawrence.

It seems much more likely Johnson used the Raiders and Jaguars to get a fat deal with the Bears.

John Shipley at SI is one of the few people who actually reached out to what was presumed by most to be Ben Johnson, and was told point blank:

"For the Jaguars to change direction, you have to actually change direction. Retaining Trent Baalke greatly diminishes my interest in that job. Lot's of promise, but same roadblocks."

full story: https://www.si.com/nfl/jaguars/news/exclusive-prominent-jaguars-coaching-candidate-on-keeping-gm-trent-baalke-01jgwmpnff8v

(Less substantiated, but prevalent) rumor is that Ben Johnson had to be talked into even taking the Zoom interview with Shad Khan after the decision was made to retain Trent Baalke.

I don't doubt that he may have had the Bears in his crosshairs all along, but it sure sounds like the Jags completely removed themselves from the consideration set entirely when they made the baffling decision to retain their GM, again.

[civil42806]

How do they sell tickets?   I lived in jax till 2011 and had season tickets from day one. I even kept them after I moved away.  Well I did until Gus bradley was given a fourth year.  I figured if Khan didn't care why should I.  I catch the occasional game on now when they are inflicted upon the nfl fans here, but my god they are truly awful.  I am not sure they are ever going to have any long term success until kahn sells them.

[copperfiend]

I had season tickets until 2009. I just wasn’t able to make every game and couldn’t even give them away sometimes.

After that I would go to 3-4 games a year.

Now I might go to one a year. It’s just not fun to spend your entire Sunday at a game where the team is likely to lose. And in a stadium that is over half opposing fans many weeks.

Khan has built an absolute loser here.

[Charles Hunter]

Good News

The Jacksonville Jaguars are making another change after missing out on several of the NFL's top head coaching candidates this offseason.

The team will part ways with general manager Trent Baalke despite initially saying he would be sticking around.

Baalke took over as general manager in 2021 as the team went 25-43 over his four seasons. He hired and fired Urban Meyer in 2021 before working with coach Doug Pederson for the last three years.

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/sports/nfl/jaguars-fire-trent-baalke-head-coaching-candidates/6117958/

[BridgeTroll]

Lol... 

[copperfiend]

Fire Baalke weeks too late after other teams have already hired new GMs and head coaches

[Steve]

Did Khan just realize that Baalke was a problem? Talk about being in the slow lane on the coaching search.

I'm grateful to Khan for stabilizing the franchise in Jacksonville and the new lease/stadium work. But man.... the on-field success rate and organization are a disaster.

[Ken_FSU]

Wild ineptitude.

Glad Baalke’s gone, but the way this went down is yet another signal that this franchise is a dumpster fire under Shad Khan’s leadership. 

Coordinators actively turning down promotions to head coach because it’s such a mess.

[Joey Mackey]

All evidence seems to suggest that Baalke was in fact deterring top candidates from accepting the position, so I was wrong on that.

I am very excited that the Jags are bringing in an ascending offensive mind to lead the team. No more excuses for Trevor, it is time for him to play like a top 5 QB.