Once the Jacksonville Jaguars’ season was over, the team decided it would be best if they fired Doug Pederson. While the move was expected inside league circles, it ended a three-year tenure for the former Super Bowl winner in Duval, where he led the team to an underwhelming 22-29 record.
Pederson led the Jaguars to the postseason just once and even won a playoff game, but couldn’t get back to that stage across the past two years. Now, the Jaguars are interviewing several candidates to replace Pederson. As they go through the interview process, they’re learning more about their next potential head coach, which could still prompt another significant change to the team’s front office structure.
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Jacksonville Jaguars could still fire GM Trent Baalke to land a better head coach
Usually franchises hire a new general manager, who then picks the team’s next head coach. But the Jacksonville Jaguars retained GM Trent Baalke, who’s been with the team since 2021. Some thought that if the Jaguars made any changes, they’d start with Baalke and possibly extend to Doug Pederson’s removal too. But only Pederson has been forced to move on. So far.
According to Sports Illustrated’s NFL insider Albert Breer, the Jaguars may still move on from Baalke this offseason. It all depends on which head coaching candidate they prefer. If that candidate aligns better with a different GM, then Baalke could be on the outs.
“Jaguars owner Shad Khan has expressed some flexibility to coaching candidates on his decision to retain GM Trent Baalke. And my read on that is this: If a coach has the leverage to get what he wants from the team, then Khan could still pull the plug on Baalke.”
SI’s Albert Breer on Jacksonville Jaguars
This smells like the Jaguars are interested in some of the most desired coaching candidates around, such as possibly Ben Johnson, Bill Belichick, or Mike McCarthy. After all, if they’re not an established coach, then why would the Jaguars alter their current plans to keep Baalke?
Teams probably wouldn’t make a change unless it was requested from a coaching candidate with leverage or the choice to select from multiple job offers.
