Column: Jaguars’ Trent Baalke Saga Offers Little in Logic, a Lot in Dispiriting Future Enthusiasm
The Jacksonville Jaguars aren't like most NFL teams.
To say they operate in an idiosyncratic manner compared to most NFL franchises would be a mistake -- the mistake, of course, being the actual presumption that the Jaguars think and work like any other NFL team.
To think like the Jaguars, one must throw away logic and reason and understand that one way or another, the Jaguars march to the beat of their own drum. And that is what makes the Trent Baalke saga all the more confusing.
It isn't often in the NFL that there are figures -- especially powerful ones -- without friends and allies who will go to bat for them, whether behind the scenes or to the media and general public.
It is even less often that those same lonely figures are able to rise to prominent positions not just once, but twice. But that is where the Jaguars currently find themselves.
Baalke has yet to be officially retained by owner Shad Khan as the Jaguars' general manager moving forward, but there isn't really anything that suggests he won't be. There are reports and rumors of course that the next head coach could decide Baalke's fate, but that is an already unraveled ball of string that fails to inspire confidence and only creates dispiriting feelings about the direction of the franchise.
Why would Baalke, who has been with the Jaguars for the entirety of their coaching search thus far this season, advise Khan to hire a coach who he thinks wouldn't want him to remain in the picture? The NFL is like any other business in the fact that power vacuums are oftentimes more important than the job itself, and few do power vacuums better than Baalke.
Baalke outlasted and outsmarted Jim Harbaugh in San Francisco, with the belief around the league being that Baalke's behind-the-scenes actions helped Harbaugh fall out of favor with 49ers ownership. Baalke was then able to hire two more head coaches before eventually being fired.
This is a general manager whose greatest asset isn't his ability to scout or his shrewd negotiations in trades and free agency -- the last two offseasons in Jacksonville have shown us that as the Jaguars have whiffed in drafts (CJ Henderson, K'Lavon Chaisson), been had in trades, and have misplayed all leverage in free agency.
Instead, Baalke's best trait is his ability to survive. He deserves credit for it, too. He is the ultimate last man standing, making it through the Harbaugh era before landing in Jacksonville and turning a Director of Pro Personnel gig into an interim general manager role and, eventually, the full-time general manager role.
But Jacksonville is a fan base and franchise that deserves so much more than a silver-tongued general manager who is better at convincing owners of his ability than he is at actually constructing a roster. They deserve a hard reset of 2021 and 2020, the worst two-year stretch in the history of a franchise that very rarely has anything but bad years.
Baalke has a place in the NFL, but there is only one team he could realistically have a place as general manager in. Any other general manager comes under the fire that Baalke has come under the last two weeks, and there are likely some who rush to the defense, whether it be coaches, players, agents, whomever.
That hasn't happened for Baalke. Instead, the football world has simply nodded along quietly as they have watched a large chunk of the Jaguars' fan base turn their noses up with disgust at the idea of keeping Baalke in the building.
All the king's horses and all the king's men could have come to Baalke's defense as clown profile pictures and threats to flood TIAA Bank Field's stands during Sunday's home finale with clown costumes have poured in.
Instead, there has been a mere whimper as the Jaguars have dragged their feet quietly to the end of the miserable 2021 season.
There isn't much logic in any of this saga. Baalke hasn't done a good job in his role in the last two years -- the Jaguars have drafted poorly, have missed time and time again in free agency, have shipped off talented players for below-average value, and most importantly have failed to build around rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
So, why then does it seem inevitable that Khan will keep Baalke after Sunday's season finale? Why after one of the worst two-season runs imaginable is Baalke's name even still in consideration to lead the Jaguars into the future?
Because the Jaguars have not operated under the same logic as other NFL teams for a long time. It worked once when all of the stars aligned perfectly in 2017, but that constellation is not even in the same galaxy at this point.
In a league where loyalty and patience come after results, the Jaguars work under the opposite principles. They are loyal to a fault, even when everyone in the football world would understand if they weren't.
When the Jaguars keep Baalke in place, it won't make much logical sense. His performance hasn't led anyone but Khan to believe it should be an option. His reputation around the league following his 49ers' tenure is shoddy at best. And the morale of a loyal fan base has never been lower, which says a lot considering all they have been through.
But it will make sense from the Jaguars' perspective -- a perspective that is warped and sees things in a different light than any fan, coach, or general manager.
The Baalke saga of the last two weeks has made little sense. The likelihood of him staying in his role makes even less.
But for the Jaguars, it is just another week. Until that changes, it is unlikely anything will.
