Report: Backlash on Trent Baalke Not Impacting Jaguars' Owner Shad Khan
The clowns have come out of the woodwork in droves over the last two weeks, but Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan is reportedly not diverging from his intended path when it comes to embattled general manager Trent Baalke.
According to a report from CBS Senior NFL Reporter Jonathan Jones -- who is among the most plugged-in and historically accurate national reporters when it comes to the Jaguars and Khan -- a recent fan movement to express displeasure over retaining Baalke hasn't done much to sway the Jaguars owner.
"Jaguars owner Shad Khan severely underestimated the fan reaction — nay, revolt — over his intention to retain GM Trent Baalke. But I'm told Khan remains steadfast in his decision to retain Baalke as general manager of the team moving forward," Jones reported on Friday.
This is the latest in what has been a long line of reports that indicate Baalke is likely to remain in place in Jacksonville, no matter who Urban Meyer's replacement is. Jones noted that sources indicate Baalke "has been great to work with" in Jacksonville despite his history of toxicity and backdoor politicking, which was one of his downfalls in San Francisco and has led to him having a subpar reputation in NFL circles.
Jones also reports the Jaguars have explored the idea of adding a No. 2 to work alongside Baalke, though the reaction across the NFL hasn't been an overly enthusiastic one. Baalke was originally hired in 2020 as a de-facto No. 2 to then-general manager Dave Caldwell, with Baalke then being named interim general manager after Caldwell's firing and eventually being promoted to full-time general manager after Meyer was hired in January.
"There's been a lukewarm reaction. Baalke isn't trusted or well-liked around the league based off his time in San Francisco, and there is initial discomfort in jumping over to work with him," Jones said.
A decision to keep Baalke will likely be made official in the coming days or weeks as the Jaguars continue to interview candidates to replace Meyer. Candidates who have interviewed or are set to interview include Jim Caldwell, Doug Pederson, Todd Bowles, Byron Leftwich, Matt Eberflus, Nathaniel Hackett, Kellen Moore, and Bill O'Brien.
Locally, Baalke's presence and path to being retained have ignited a ferocious reaction from a tired and beat-down fan base. Jaguars fans across social media platforms have changed their profile pictures to clowns to express displeasure in the decision to keep Baalke and not hit the reset button.
Fans are also set to bring clown gear to Sunday's home finale against the Indianapolis Colts to truly drive home their point -- a point that has been made so strongly thus far that Jaguars players and coaches have been asked about it throughout the week,
"I mean I don’t know what they’re talking about very much, but I do understand the frustration that they have," Jaguars interim head coach Darrell Bevell said on Wednesday. "There’s a level of frustration here within the building. The players are frustrated, we’re frustrated with what’s going on, and we want it to be better as well.”
“I guess you can look at it both ways. I guess I’ll start by saying I understand how the fans that have been Jacksonville fans for a long time [feel]. I’m sure that hasn’t been easy. [There’s] a lot of die-hard fans that this is I wouldn’t say everything for them, but this is something that’s very important to them is the Jags and they’ve been a fan since the Jags started," quarterback Trevor Lawrence said earlier this week. "You see that passion and you definitely respect that. As players, I know the feeling. We want to do everything we can to win for this city, for these fans and obviously we haven’t had much success this year. That’s frustrating for us as well, so I understand from a fan’s perspective.
"Would I do that personally? No, I wouldn’t do that. But fans feel how they feel and it’s hard. Like I said, this year’s been disappointing for all of us. We wanted to win a lot more games, so I get the frustration. But for us, we’re just focusing on going and finishing with a win this season.”
