Familiarity, Need for Veteran Presence Drove the Jaguars' signing of Mike Glennon

The Jacksonville Jaguars were never shy about their desires to add a veteran signal-caller to their quarterback this offseason. Now, they have finally done so by agreeing to terms with eighth-year quarterback Mike Glennon.

Once Nick Foles was traded to the Chicago Bears in March, it became a necessity for the Jaguars to add some kind of passer who has years of experience under his belt. The other three quarterbacks on the roster, Garnder Minshew II, Josh Dobbs, and Jake Luton, have only a combined 12 NFL starts to their names. While the starting job is Minshew's to lose, there is no real downside to adding an experienced player who can serve as a sounding board for the younger passers.

Jacksonville has a variety of veteran offensive coaches who can help guide Minshew along in his second year as a starter, such as offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and quarterbacks coach Ben McAdoo. But there comes a point where Minshew needs a peer to lean on as he develops. In Glennon, the Jaguars hope they have found that peer.

"For me, there is a comfort level that comes into having a veteran presence in that room with the young guys that we have, you know, with Gardner, and Dobbs, and with Jake now," head coach Doug Marrone told local media Friday. "I feel real comfortable about where Jay is as the coordinator and a former quarterback, and Ben, as far as their knowledge and things of that nature. But I always think there is a part of learning that occurs outside of your coaches, you know, with the people who are around you."

The Jaguars shook up the quarterback room a decent bit before signing Glennon, with the Foles trade and the drafting of Luton in the sixth-round the major moves. The plan has always been for Minshew to start, especially since Foles was traded. But, as Marrone noted Friday, there are other things the team wanted to add at the position.

"Having a good background with him and speaking with Jay and speaking with Ben, I really feel that he is going to help our football team in a lot of different ways," Marrone said about Glennon.

"I wasn't trying to hide anything. I was trying to make sure that we were going to, if we didn't do something maybe early in the draft, that we were going to get some type of veteran presence in there."

Marrone, of course, knows all about Glennon. In 2013, Marrone's first year as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, Glennon was one of the top-ranked quarterback prospects in the draft following a solid career at NC State. The Bills needed a quarterback badly that year, eventually drafting E.J. Manuel with the No. 16 overall pick. But even though Marrone and the Bills passed on Glennon, who was drafted in the third round by Tampa Bay, they did enough homework on him for Marrone to get a feel for him as a player.

Another sense of familiarity the Jaguars have with Glennon is the fact that he played for Gruden's brother, Jon Gruden, with the Oakland Raiders in 2019. While the brothers don't run the exact same offensive scheme, Marrone noted there are some similar principles.

"I know when I was talking with Mike, you know, there was a comfort level with obviously the offense that was in Oakland obviously under Jon Gruden, Jay's brother, and us. Which is -- there are things that are different, but the philosophy is pretty much the same," Marrone said.

"I pretty much relied on, hey listen, thinking about when he was coming out and all of the word that we did on him when he was coming out, and how this guy was going to be able to fit in to what we wanted to do and fit in to the locker room and the quarterback room. I was just looking to make sure that we got the best guy for our team."

Glennon will likely compete with Dobbs and Luton for the team's backup quarterback role, but he gives the Jaguars a Plan B in the event Minshew is injured or takes a step back in his sophomore season. It would be a shock to see him push Minshew for the starting role, but he at least gives the Jaguars a reason to breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they no longer have a completely youthful quarterback room.

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