7 Executives Who Would Fit as Next General Manager of the Jaguars
For the first time in nearly a decade, the Jacksonville Jaguars are moving forward without Dave Caldwell as their general manager.
Caldwell was fired Sunday following the Jaguars' 27-25 loss to the Cleveland Browns, a game that dropped the Jaguars to 1-10. The nearly eight-year Caldwell era is over, but now the Jaguars must turn their eyes to the future. The Jaguars have needed to do so for some time, but the moment of truth has finally come.
So, who should be considered the most logical candidates to replace Caldwell? We break down seven here, taking into account their experience, past interest, and more.
Mike Borgonzi
Current role: Director of Football Operations, Kansas City Chiefs
There is a lot that makes sense about looking to successful teams throughout the league as models of how to rebuild. Front office executives on top teams each year get poached to become general managers of their own, and 2020 will be no different throughout the league. One notable name in that same vein of thought is Kansas City Chiefs executive Mike Borgonzi. The Chiefs have been stellar in recent years at drafting and developing talent from all rounds, while also making some key free agency moves to push them to a Super Bowl in 2019 and plenty of wins under Andry Reid. Borgonzi has been a key part of those successes and will likely be rewarded for it by some team sooner than later.
Why should the Jaguars hope they are that team? Because Borgonzi has proven himself in a system and franchise that simply wins. He has worked for the Chiefs since 2009 and has been promoted six times in that span, cutting his teeth as a pro personnel scout and director. He has also worked under three different general managers, so he has experience with multiples forms of leadership. All in all, his experience suggests he should be one of the next big general manager candidates for any team, not just the Jaguars.
Eliot Wolf
Current role: Consultant, New England Patriots
Eliot Wolf, the son of Hall of Fame General Manager Ron Wolf, who helped lead Green Bay's front office during the 1990s and early 2000s, has been talked about as a potential general manager candidate for years but has never caught on in the role. He currently serves as a consultant for the New England Patriots' front office but also spent time with the Seattle Seahawks around the NFL Scouting Combine.
What makes Wolf a sensible fit for the Jaguars? He has years and years of experience on the pro personnel side, working in essentially every role responsible in that facet of a front office during his Packers tenure from 2004-2017. He was then assistant manager of the Cleveland Browns in 2018 and 2019, two of the Browns' best recent seasons in terms of talent acquisition. Wolf has the experience and the pedigree; he just needs the opportunity.
Joe Hortiz
Current role: Director of Player Personnel, Baltimore Ravens
Another pick from one of the NFL's best front offices, Joe Hortiz has been a key member of the staff that has built the Ravens over the last two decades. If anyone knows how a good front office is supposed to operate in terms of draft evaluation, how to attack the trade market, and what a winning culture looks like, it is likely Hortiz. He has also learned from two of the best general managers the league has offered in recent years with Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta.
Hortiz first joined Baltimore as a personnel assistant in 1998. He spent eight years as a college scout, where he was credited with scouting Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs. He was promoted to director of college scouting in 2019 and is now a director of player personnel in Baltimore, serving as a right-hand man for DeCosta. Whether he would be willing to leave Baltimore is to be determined, but he knows what a front office is supposed to look like, making him an executive worth pursuing.
Adam Peters
Current role: Vice President of Player Personnel, San Francisco 49ers
Considered a young up-and-comer in the football industry, San Francisco 49ers' front office executive Adam Peters has a lot of the qualities that Dave Caldwell had when the Jaguars hired him in 2013. He has experience on the pro and college side and has put in time as a scout, giving him enough different experiences and viewpoints to make him more than just a potential first-time general manager.
Peters is in his fourth season as vice president of player personnel for the 49ers, joining their front office after spending the previous eight seasons (2009-16) with the Denver Broncos. In Denver, Peters was a director of college scouting, an assistant director of college scouting, a national scout, and a regional scout. He is a scouting lifer who has seen the 49ers build through the draft, all signs of his potential capability as a general manager.
Scott Pioli
Current role: No current role.
Scott Pioli is the only person on this list who isn't currently holding a job in a football front office, but that doesn't mean much when you consider his vast experience. If the Jaguars want to go the opposite route of what they did with Caldwell in 2013, then they would want a seasoned front office veteran to lead the next wave of Jaguars football. Not many available executives would provide the kind of experience Pioli would, whether it is for better or for worse.
One of the right-hand men of Bill Belichick in Cleveland, Pioli had stops in Baltimore and New York (Jets) before joining Belichick in New England in 2000. Pioli was the vice president of player personnel from 2002-2008, winning three Super Bowls with the team. Pioli got a chance to run his own show without Belichick in Kansas City from 2009-2012 but accumulated just a 23-41 record and saw both his head coach hires get fired. He then spent 2014-2019 with the Atlanta Falcons as the team's assistant general manager, helping guide them to some of the best regular season success in the NFL during that time. He doesn't have an unblemished record and will likely even scare some off, but he is a smart option for the Jaguars in the event they go all-in on experience.
Jeff Ireland
Current role: Assistant General Manager & College Scouting Director , New Orleans Saints
Yes, Jeff Ireland had a disastrous tenure in Miami for several reasons. With that said, he has transformed himself into one of the league's most respected personnel men in recent years as he has overhauled the Saints' scouting department since joining in 2015. If the Jaguars want someone who already has experience and respect, then the former Dolphins general manager and Cowboys vice president of college and pro scouting makes a lot of sense.
Ireland has been given a ton of credit for the Saints' draft efforts over the last five seasons, efforts that have seen the Saints pull in some of the best draft classes in the NFL during that span. Sean Payton himself has heaped mountains of praise and appreciation on Ireland, crediting him for how the Saints now truly evaluate prospects. If Ireland has learned from his past mistakes, and it appears he very well may have, then he could be an enticing candidate.
Tom Gamble
Current role: Assistant General Manager , Montreal Alouettes
Could you name the two finalists for Jacksonville's general manager job in 2013? Caldwell was obviously one of them, but the other was Steve Keim. But there was a third executive who interviewed with the club: long-time NFL front office man Tom Gamble. Gamble turned down a second interview with the Jaguars as he aimed for a job with the New York Jets, but could owner Shad Khan have interest in him yet again?
Gamble currently works in the Canadian Football League but before then he was one of the league's most respected personnel men. He has been a director of player personnel, a college scouting administrator, an area scout, an assistant general manager, and a vice president of player personnel in his different tenures with the Eagles, Colts, and 49ers. He had Jacksonville's interest once. Why not again?
