COLUMN: Could Any Jaguars Candidate Force Shad Khan's Hand?

In the coming weeks, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan will make one of the most important decisions of his ownership tenure.

Khan will be hiring his sixth head coach as owner. This time, though, he risks ruining the prime of his first-ever franchise quarterback if he gets it wrong.

Khan simply has to nail this hire. He can not afford another misstep. Not after he has already made Trevor Lawrence among the highest-paid players in the NFL.

And in the process of looking for his newest leader of the franchise, Khan must weigh the potential demands of top candidates.

Would Khan, who has traditionally been willing to bend the dynamics of the franchise's structure, be willing to listen to a head coach who wishes for changes of some sort to the front office?

And if Khan would listen to these wishes -- as he indicated earlier this week he would -- is there any coaching candidate who has the potential influence and cache to actually force Khan's hand?

Looking at the Jaguars' 10 current candidates for the head coach role, few names come to mind since most are coordinators who have never been a head coach.

Of the three candidates who have been head coaches -- Robert Saleh, Brian Flores and Steve Spagnuolo -- none are in the position to wield that kind of power. Saleh and Flores need second chances after failed stints at previous stops, while Spagnuolo has not been a head coach for over a decade.

That leaves the Jaguars' seven other candidates. Amongst them are Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, Patrick Graham, Todd Monken, Kellen Moore, Liam Coen, and Joe Brady.

Of this group, the three highest-profile seem to be Johnson, Glenn and Coen. Monken is a veteran coach who seems unlikely to be demanding about jobs, while Graham, Brady and Moore simply do not seem to have that kind of leverage.

As for Coen, it seems unlikely he would go into a meeting with Khan with mandates in mind. He is a first-year NFL signal-caller who, to this point, is only scheduled to meet with the Jaguars about a head coaching job. With limited head coach options, it does not appear he is in a position to try to make a power play.

This leaves the Detroit Lions coordinators in Johnson and Glenn. Glenn appears to be a candidate for each open job outside of New England, where he pulled himself out of contention. With a deep front office in Detroit, perhaps he has enough firepower behind his candidacy to be a coach who could force Khan to rethink his ideas for the front office.

But the name that is most synonymous with potential change in Jacksonville is none other than Johnson's. It makes sense, too, considering the strength of Johnson's candidacy.

Johnson isn't just the hottest name in this year's cycle. In six years of covering the Jaguars, this is the the third head coach search I have now covered. In those years, I have never seen a candidate with as much influence and appeal as Johnson.

This isn't to crown Johnson early. He has still yet to prove himself as a leader of a franchise. But no other coach in recent searches has had the type of allure as Johnson.

Whether it is due to the fact that he has been the NFL's best play-caller for multiple years running. Maybe because it is his name that people attach the Detroit Lions' vast offensive success to.

Whatever it is, Johnson has the juice as a candidate to be able to tell even the most steadfast of believers that he has the right path to building a winning program.

If there is any candidate who can force Khan to buy into their vision, it is Johnson. We will see if it all comes together sooner t

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