Does It Make Sense to Label Tom Coughlin As the Scapegoat for Recent Jaguars Failures?
The Jacksonville Jaguars' moves over the last several months have screamed one thing. As loud and clear as possible, Jacksonville's decision-makers have said that one person is at fault for how poorly the last two seasons have gone: Tom Coughlin.
The former executive vice president of football operations, and first-ever head coach in the franchise's 24-year history, was fired in December before Jacksonville's Week 16 game. Since then, not much else changed in Jacksonville.
Coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell were each retained by owner Shad Khan, despite Marrone having only a 22-28 record in Jacksonville and Caldwell having a lowly 36-76 record since being hired as general manager in 2013.
By firing Coughlin and keeping the rest of the team's power structure in place, the Jaguars made it as clear as possible they were making Coughlin the scapegoat for the team's 11-21 record in the last two years, a far cry from the 10-6 team that made it to the AFC Championship in 2017.
And on Tuesday, Khan once again doubled down on this idea, stating that he made a change because Coughlin was simply the one in charge of the team which underperformed.
But does it make sense to paint Coughlin as the lone scapegoat for the Jaguars' failures in recent seasons?
Yes, in some ways. In other ways, not so much.
Coughlin, of course, made several fatal mistakes as the Jaguars' top-ranking front office member. Drafting Leonard Fournette fourth overall instead of Patrick Mahomes or Deshaun Watson, despite the Jaguars having perhaps the worst starting quarterback in the NFL the season before, was a major gaffe from the jump. Even when Fournette plays at a high level, that isn't comparable to what you could get from a young franchise quarterback.
Jacksonville was riding high for the rest of Coughlin's first year in the front office, coming within one quarter of appearing in the franchise's first Super Bowl. He made good moves to help get them there too, such as approving the signings of Calais Campbell and A.J. Bouye.
But things came crashing down the following year, and they never really recovered. Coughlin made a short-sighted decision in extending Blake Bortles after the 2017 season, attributing the team's success to the streaky and largely underwhelming quarterback.
Bortles was given a three-year, $54 million deal with $26.5 million in guaranteed money from Coughlin, and this proved to be a deathblow to the team's 2018 chances. He went on to throw only 13 touchdown passes in 2018, along with 11 interceptions, as the Jaguars' offense around him regressed. When things weren't perfectly set up for Bortles to succeed, he failed; something Coughlin should have always seen coming.
But Bortles and his overstayed welcome as the starter isn't on Coughlin alone. Caldwell drafted Bortles in 2014 and then went about to fail to build much of a team around him. Caldwell was a giant Bortles fan, and while it was likely a Coughlin decision to extend him, he has some culpability in this regard as well.
But the Bortles error wasn't the only mistake Coughlin made following the 2017 playoff run. He let star wide receiver Allen Robinson walk for nothing, opting to not use the franchise tag on the team's top offensive player. There has been a misconception that Robinson would have never signed with Jacksonville, but it simply isn't true. Coughlin just didn't attempt to reach a strong deal with the player.
As a result of Robinson leaving, the Jaguars rushed to resign wide receiver Marqise Lee to a four-year, $38 million contract with $18 million guaranteed. Coughlin also signed free agent wide receiver Donte Moncrief.
Moncrief lasted only a year in Jacksonville, failing to show much over 16 games in a fresh start and not coming close to the impact Robinson had on the offense. Meanwhile, Lee has caught only three passes for 18 yards since signing his deal due to two season-ending injuries.
And of course, Coughlin signed left guard Andrew Norwell to a massive five-year, $66.5 million contract with $30 million in guarantees with the impression that he would be the missing piece to Jacksonville's offense. Norwell has been largely average instead. Not many were doubting the signing then but, for whatever reason, it hasn't worked out like the team hoped it would.
The inability to replace Robinson in 2018, along with largely ignoring the tight end position, combined with Bortles' regression and resulted in one of the worst offenses in the league and a 5-11 record. The defense was still good, sometimes great, but it couldn't carry an offense that had been hurt by poor personnel decisions.
Things didn't improve much in 2019. Coughlin led a great draft in which the team landed core players like Josh Allen, Jawaan Taylor, and Gardner Minshew, but his biggest move failed in an epic way.
To move on from the Bortles mistake, the Jaguars signed free agent quarterback and former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles to the largest deal in team history: a four-year, $88 million contract with a little more than $45 million in guarantees. Foles was the biggest fish Coughlin had ever landed from a financial perspective. The most commitment the team had ever given to an outside player.
But Coughlin failed to see the errors with signing Foles to begin with. He was never a successful long-term starter at any of his prior spots with the Philadelphia Eagles or St. Lous Rams, instead playing his best ball in spurts and stretches. Jacksonville also didn't have the infrastructure to set Foles up for success as Philadelphia did during his magical run in 2017. And instead of building that foundation around Foles, Coughlin more or less left the offense as it was.
And finally, Coughlin's strained relationship with All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey is what ultimately led to the departure of the team's best player after less than half the season.
So in short, Coughlin made an abundance of misguided personnel moves that led to the Jaguars failing in 2018 and 2019. As the head man in charge, he deserves blame and accountability for these moves.
But he can't be the only person to blame. That is too simple of an answer for a team that went 11-21. When a team loses double-digit games two years in a row, then there are more issues than simply one person.
The coaching on both sides of the ball failed in spectacular fashions. The team churned out offensive coordinators due to never having a consistently productive offense, and defensive coordinator Todd Wash's scheme regressed as more and more talent left Jacksonville.
And of course, Khan isn't blameless in this either. He hired Coughlin in 2017 with full knowledge that his personnel record during his first run with the Jaguars was shaky at best and the Giants won two Super Bowls with Coughlin as the coach, not the general manager. He kept Coughlin in his position after a disastrous 2018 offseason. Ultimately, some blame that is placed on Coughlin needs to be placed on his plate as well.
