Jaguars Can't Afford to Miss on General Manager Hire

The Jacksonville Jaguars need to get the general manager hire more than ever.

From left, emcee Jaguars senior reporter/editor J.P. Shadrick, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, and Jacksonville Jaguars Hall of Famer Tony Boselli laugh on stage Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. Jaguars fans got a chance to see the new head coach speak and give a warm welcome at the stadium. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Jacksonville Jaguars have already made a few critical decisions this offseason.

Firing head coach Doug Pederson and general manager was Shad Khan's way of changing the entire course of the franchise and its future. Each move was mostly expected and, even, needed for the Jaguars to move past their losing ways and into a new age.

Khan moved aggressively and swiftly to land former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as head coach. Shortly after, he tabbed former left tackle and Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Boselli as Executive Vice President of Football Operations.

Now, Khan has to make his next big move -- and he can't afford to do anything but hit a home run.

The Jaguars are set to kick off virtual interviews for their general manager search this week, according to Boselli. Once they go through the first round of interviews, they will whittle the list down to finalists.

And from there, Khan must make the wise choice. He is not making the decision alone, of course; Coen will clearly have a voice in the decision. As will Boselli. But at the end of the day, this is Khan's franchise and the buck stops with him.

Khan has only hired two other general managers in his tenure as Jaguars owner: Baalke and former general manager Dave Caldwell. He eventually had to fire each after they failed to turn the franchise into consistent winners. And now Khan's and the Jaguars' failures have brought the Jaguars to this year's general manager search.

To their credit, Khan and the Jaguars have put together an impressive list of candidates who have a wide variety of backgrounds and experience. It is a significantly better list of candidates on paper than the 2021 search, which consisted of mostly retreads and failed veteran executives.

But for the Jaguars to finally end their carousel of firings and hirings, they need to nail this hire. The Jaguars will be wasting the primes of players like Trevor Lawrence, Josh Hines-Allen, Travon Walker, and Brian Thomas Jr. if they don't.

After so many years of taking steps backward and remaining stagnant, the Jaguars need to evolve with their next general manager hire. Khan has made plenty of key hires in his tenure as owner. Coen might be the most important. But as things stand today, this general manager hire isn't far behind.

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