What Does the Future Hold for Jacksonville in the Post-Tom Coughlin Era?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Over the last week, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan has had to make some of the biggest decisions of his eight-year tenure. Now, Khan has to prepare to make even more.

Shockwaves were sent through the NFL and the Jaguars organization Wednesday when Khan fired executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin. Khan had made Coughlin his football czar in 2017 and handed him the keys to all football-related decisions. He entrusted him with a franchise filled with young talent and cap space, and in turn Coughlin helped lead Jacksonville to a 10-6 record and the AFC Championship game in his first season.

But, the former Jaguars head coach had worn out his welcome the past two seasons. He had a strained relationship with several players, playing a large part in the exodus of talent from Jacksonville since 2017.

Coughlin also brought embarrassment to the franchise by going against league union rules to fine players, leading to the NFL Players Association releasing a statement that was perhaps its most devasting indictment toward a team this decade.

Coughlin was the direct boss of both general manager Dave Caldwell and head coach Doug Marrone. While Marrone led the team on game day, everyone knew it was Coughlin who was pulling the strings and calling the shots. Now, this is no longer the case.

So without Coughlin's towering influence on all things football-related, where does Jacksonville go from here?

Khan's first moves have to be deciding on what he will do with Caldwell and Marrone. Will he keep both, just one, or neither?

Each has contracts that run through 2021 after signing extensions following the 2017 season, so if Khan does keep both neither would be in a lame-duck situation that would hamper bringing in potential assistants. Khan did similarly with Gus Bradley after the 2015 season, giving him a one-year extension to ensure he wasn't a lame-duck coach in 2016 while he searched for a new defensive coordinator.

On the surface, Caldwell and Marrone both have arguments to make for why they should stick around in Jacksonville in 2020. But there are also arguments that build cases against them.

While maintaining his general manager title during Coughlin's tenure, Caldwell's power was significantly diminished. He still played a large role in contracts and trades, but it was the Coughlin show. Caldwell could make the argument that he built the crux of the 2017 roster that was so successful, and since then Coughlin had only run off some of his best picks, such as Allen Robinson, Jalen Ramsey, and nearly Yannick Ngakoue.

As for Marrone, he can point to the fact that Coughlin not only created a divide in the organization due to how he treated players but also the fact that Coughlin made his job harder each and every season to his personnel moves. Marrone was saddled with two quarterbacks that are hard to win with in Blake Bortles and Nick Foles, and the roster took a step backward every season.

Caldwell and Marrone haven't quite been blameless in the 5-9 Jaguars' troubles, or the 10-20 record since the 2017 season ended. The Jaguars are among the most penalized teams in that span and have had issues making in-game adjustments. Marrone is a good leader of men, but at times his staff has simply been outcoached.

If Marrone is to stay, he must at least make some wholesale defensive staff changes at the minimum. He respects defensive coordinator Todd Wash, but Wash's scheme has simply never worked unless Jacksonville had elite defensive talent. With a defense that has struggled so badly this year, new coaching on that side is a must.

As for Caldwell, he still made a few mistakes in his tenure as Jacksonville's top executive before Coughlin came to town. Drafting Bortles third overall in 2014 was bad enough, but not replacing him at any point was even worse.

With that said, Caldwell did a good job of bringing in young talent outside of the first round (Robinson, Ngakoue, Brandon Linder, Telvin Smith, etc.,). He had been undercut by Coughlin the last three years, and it could be safe to presume that either of Ramsey or Robinson would still be Jaguars today if only Caldwell was ever in charge.

Khan has big calls to make on Caldwell and Marrone. What he ultimately decides to do with each man once the 2019 season concludes will have ramifications that go far beyond next season, making this set of decisions some of the biggest Khan is going to have to make.

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