Early on the NFL’s day of reckoning for coaches and executives, aptly named Black Monday, the Jacksonville Jaguars introduced the firing of head coach Doug Pederson after three seasons with the crew.
What didn’t observe was the announcement normal supervisor Trent Baalke too was fired. Baalke as an alternative was retained by the group and can proceed into his fifth season on the helm.
Baalke and crew proprietor Shad Khan spoke publicly on the seek for a brand new head coach and the choice to maintain Baalke in cost, the primary public feedback by the crew since its 26-23 extra time loss to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. That loss represented an NFL-record tenth one-score loss in a single season and was the ultimate nail in Pederson’s coffin, however surprisingly not Baalke’s.
Khan spoke glowingly about Pederson and his tenure with the crew, saying his ultimate conversations with the previous Tremendous Bowl-winning coach had been optimistic.
“The announcement adopted a heat and optimistic dialogue I had with Doug,” Khan stated. “As troublesome because the event was for Doug and myself, it served as a reminder of Doug’s high quality as a head coach and individual. This resolution doesn’t erase the very fact Doug did a whole lot of nice issues in Jacksonville.”
Khan famous the firing comes when the Jags are at one of the vital precarious crossroads in crew historical past. With a younger core and expertise on the roster, getting a brand new coach in place on the proper time will hopefully deliver the Jaguars again to the playoffs and league prominence.
“There isn’t any doubt in my thoughts that is the time to make a change in one of the best curiosity of the soccer crew, the neighborhood and particularly our followers,” Khan stated. “Now, we’re in a second of alternative for the Jacksonville Jaguars. I’m energized by what is feasible and by all now we have to supply a brand new head coach. I sit up for the method, a course of that has already begun.”
The crew proprietor didn’t need to bear a “full overhaul” of the crew and largely pushed again on the concept of “cleansing home.”
Khan famous that the crew has advantageous docs and help employees in place and a full cleansing of the workplaces would suggest firing them. As a substitute, Khan simply fired Pederson and stored individuals like Baalke in place as a result of he sees the failure of teaching to be the crew’s greatest situation.
“I don’t need to throw the child out with the bathwater,” Khan stated of cleansing home. “We now have a whole lot of issues which are working that may at all times be improved and can enhance. There are different issues that aren’t working and must be mounted. The teaching, that’s an space that we have to repair now. Actually over the previous few years we constructed a soccer administration and a whole lot of issues are working properly there.”
Pederson and Khan began a course of to repair the crew midyear final season, earlier than the Jags crumbled to a disappointing 9-8 file. That course of began with the firing of former defensive coordinator Dave Caldwell and additional went into a whole overhaul of the defensive employees. Whereas that course of as an alternative netted the Jaguars the league’s worst defensive unit, the crew nonetheless did play in 10 one-score video games which might have theoretically gone the Jags approach.
Very like on Sunday, the crew wasn’t ok nonetheless to win these video games and Pederson grew to become the subsequent to get axed after not enhancing on the earlier 12 months.
“We had been shut, like yesterday, however not shut sufficient to win the sport,” Khan stated. “I simply got here to the conclusion that what we had been doing was not working and a change of course was wanted.”
Baalke famous he wasn’t notably shocked he was stored on. His contract, which has particulars which are as much as some debate, runs for one more 12 months however Khan stated talks about an extension or Baalke’s contract particulars had been “irrelevant.”
Baalke has one 12 months left on his deal. Will he be prolonged? That’s the important thing query.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) January 6, 2025
Longtime NFL govt Baalke famous his personal failures with this 12 months’s crew and stated by persevering with to serve in his function he’ll work to appropriate such deficiencies.
“I don’t take the job flippantly,” Baalke stated. “The underside line is we weren’t productive on the sector. I’m simply as liable for that as anybody else. All we will do now’s roll up our sleeves and go to work.”
Rumors in current weeks had surfaced saying Baalke wasn’t going to be fired as a result of he as an alternative was going to retire. An concept Baalke would keep on by the teaching search after which retire to cede management to the brand new coach’s needs for a GM additionally circulated, however Baalke shot all rumors down.
“My focus is getting this ship proper. With the intention to do this, it’s important to be totally in,” Baalke stated. “And that’s what I intend to do.”
Now infamously, Khan known as this 12 months’s Jaguar roster one of the best in crew historical past. Whereas clearly gifted, the file would show opposite to Khan’s lofty claims. In Khan’s thoughts, it isn’t essentially simply on Baalke to repair the so-called greatest crew, but in addition equally on the coaches.
“We’re all on this collectively,” Khan stated. “I feel the place we’d like probably the most change is on the teaching facet. That’s the place we’re beginning.”
When questioned a few full overhaul, Khan did say he would take heed to reputable criticism from teaching candidates concerning the crew’s construction. He would take heed to constructive concepts on find out how to enhance and would even hear if a coach stated that Baalke wanted to go.
By doing so, Khan left the door open on nonetheless firing Baalke if the best candidate required it.
“I might need to hear and get higher,” Khan stated. “If they’ve reservations, I might need to tackle them actually and brazenly. What do now we have to offer them to achieve success? In the event that they want one thing, you need to hear and enhance. I do know we will enhance.”
It’s evident to anybody following the Jags that the crew wants to enhance, however the query is strictly the place. Khan desires the teaching candidate to have the ability to totally articulate the place the advance should begin earlier than making any strikes concerning Baalke or the manager employees.
“My response could be, ‘How would you enhance it?’ after which whether it is credible you need to do it,” Khan stated. “I simply need to be sure that this isn’t about ego or energy or one thing extra sinister. There have been a few of these components that I’ve present in my expertise within the NFL. If it’s a legit effort to get higher, then all the pieces ought to be on the desk.”
Baalke’s remaining deal does give the crew a straightforward out, however Khan was steadfast in sustaining the crew’s present construction, simply with a brand new head coach.
“What’s vital is the construction now we have,” Khan stated. “That approach if there are points that must be addressed brazenly and actually, there isn’t a disharmony. Whoever the brand new head coach is, our job is to help the top coach.”
At present, the Jaguars wouldn’t have an govt vp place stuffed, a place previously stuffed by Tom Coughlin.
Khan admitted his crew’s govt positions are usually not fully full and he could be prepared to think about filling an EVP function within the close to future.
The trepidation and lack of beforehand filling the function doubtless comes from Coughlin’s harmful and failed tenure within the function, one marred by the very fact 25% of all NFLPA grievances in 2019 got here from Jacksonville beneath his tenure.
“It needs to be the best individual,” Khan stated. “We have to add some individuals. We’re lean. We now have added individuals, modified some individuals. If we discover the best individual, undoubtedly (we are going to rent an EVP).”
The Jaguar braintrust is missing at the moment as Khan usually normally would depend on Pederson and numerous coordinators. For example, Khan stated he consulted a laundry checklist of inner individuals with reference to providing Trevor Lawrence and extension. The proprietor too depends on assistant GM Ethan Waugh and the exterior NFL construction in terms of making crew strikes.
On the flip facet, the decline in protection was one thing Khan stated even he might consider brazenly with out the necessity for individuals to inform him by hook or by crook.
When it comes to counting on gamers, Khan stated he doesn’t search out somebody like Lawrence over another participant. After firing Pederson, Baalke stated he talked to a overwhelming majority of the crew.
Khan made it clear although he didn’t need the gamers operating the crew, harking back to the perceived concept that Aaron Rogers runs the New York Jets with crew proprietor Woody Johnson (and his sons) bending to his unvaccinated will.
“I discuss to the gamers often,” Khan stated. “I take heed to what’s going to make them profitable. This isn’t (going to be) Aaron Rogers 2.0. We’re going to do the best factor by the crew. If Trevor doesn’t get higher, the opposite participant gained’t get higher and we gained’t win.”
Extending Lawrence is a big feather within the cap of Baalke, as with free agent signings like Foye Oluokun and Evan Engram. Extending Walker Little and drafting Brian Thomas Jr. had been additionally strikes Khan stated had been a purpose to maintain Baalke and proceed to let him oversee crew strikes shifting ahead.
“I feel in case you take a look at the physique of labor, actually during the last 5 years, you take a look at the gamers we’re constructing the crew round,” Khan stated. “You take a look at our wage cap. You take a look at the variety of draft picks now we have now and in addition ensuring our key gamers are getting paid. We haven’t mortgaged our future. Total, I feel it’s fairly good.”
One factor Khan identified time and time once more was Baalke is just not the one individual inside 1 EverBank Stadium Dr. guilty for the crew’s shortcomings.
“If issues don’t work out, it’s not on one individual,” Khan stated.
Baalke echoed Khan’s sentiment about getting a coach that’s on the identical web page as he and possession. That then extends to placing the crew’s greatest gamers, like Lawrence and Thomas, in one of the best place to win which wasn’t performed on the finish of final season and for a lot of the 2024-25 season.
“The very first thing now we have to do is establish the top coach and herald a employees,” Baalke stated. “There are a whole lot of good individuals on this constructing. We have to repair some issues. We want to check out the roster once more. We now have to establish who the gamers are and now we have to place them able to win video games for (us) and encompass them one of the best you possibly can with free brokers and/or draft picks. The method isn’t going to vary. We simply need to do some issues a bit of higher.”
Baalke is not going to be the one spearheading teaching interviews, however reasonably Khan can have the ultimate say. Because the proprietor, Khan will present the ultimate reply on who the crew makes the subsequent head coach.
“That is my resolution,” Khan stated. “That is my resolution. We’ll put in our requests to interview after which they’ll even interview us on how we will do higher. I’m open to all the pieces.”
Khan wasn’t anxious concerning the notion Baalke’s contract timeline and a brand new coach’s contract timeline gained’t run on the identical course. With all Jacksonville can current a brand new head coach, Khan thinks the crew will probably be simply advantageous to find one of the best candidate.
“We now have a really compelling case for what we will provide,” Khan stated. “The gamers, the place we stand within the draft, wage cap, the town, the amenities, our division. It’s a very, very compelling case.”
A number of sources emphasised final week that the #Jaguars would battle to draw a prime head coach in the event that they stored Trent Baalke. They confronted related challenges throughout their final teaching search. Proprietor Shad Khan spoke with many individuals — however he stays unmoved. Baalke is staying.… https://t.co/rpVVBhNKBu
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 6, 2025
Beforehand, each Pederson and Baalke reported on to Khan. In keeping with Khan, that gained’t change with the brand new coach.
That new coach may even have to assist interject parity into how the Jags function on the sector. Khan rightfully expressed that his crew is overly predictable on either side of the ball and the brand new coach might want to breathe a new-age life into Duval County.
“We would like him to characterize the crew and the town properly,” Khan stated. “We need to win. Proper now, we’re probably the most predictable crew on either side of the ball. Soccer, to win, deception is an enormous a part of it. Being unpredictable is trendy soccer. We now have to have the ability to present that.”
Head coaches have been largely unsuccessful beneath Trent Baalke. Just one coach beneath Baalke, Jim Harbaugh with the San Francisco 49ers, had a successful file with Baalke at GM and that relationship grew to become so fractured that Harbaugh left the NFL partly as a consequence of Baalke.
The 2 head coaches employed beneath Baalke, City Meyer and Pederson, have gone a mixed 22-50. Meyer was even fired midyear.
Baalke stated he isn’t going to do something particular with the subsequent hiring and interview course of however reasonably search out one of the best obtainable possibility.
“It is a state of affairs the place you exit and choose one of the best individual you possibly can choose,” Baalke stated. “Nobody has a crystal ball. Errors are made on a regular basis on this enterprise. It’s important to self-correct. Now it’s about happening the subsequent journey and making an attempt to get this factor proper for the lengthy haul.”
Nobody within the NFL desires to lose, not to mention the GM and proprietor of one of many losingest groups within the NFL.
Since tasting the playoffs simply two seasons in the past, the bar is about for the brand new coach to get the Jaguars again within the playoffs. And quick.
“I count on for us to have success in a short time,” Khan stated. “It’s important to be capturing for the playoffs yearly.”
In keeping with Khan and Baalke, if the protection can enhance to even the center of the pack and the offense can turn out to be extra artistic, the Jags ought to be capable of not less than win the AFC South.
“There are a whole lot of good younger gamers on this crew,” Baalke stated. “There’s a lot to sit up for. The fanbase deserves that. This factor could be flipped and flipped rapidly. I’m wanting ahead to attending to work on it.”
Thus far, the Jaguars haven’t put in any official requests for interviews. (Use this hyperlink to maintain updated on the Jaguar hiring course of) The standard suspects of names have circulated as for who the crew ought to interview, like Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
With Baalke retained, many studies say that coaches similar to these could not even interview for the job. However relaxation assured, Baalke stated the crew is able to discover the crew’s third head coach in 5 years.
“We’re going to transfer rapidly,” Baalke stated.