Jaguars General Manager Search: Pros and Cons of Rick Smith's Potential Fit

The 2021 offseason is set to be a monumental one for the Jaguars. Not only are they guaranteed a top-2 pick and are stocked with draft picks and salary cap, but the team will also be finding a new front office leader.

Jacksonville has been run by two front office executives since 2013: Tom Coughlin, who called the shots as Executive Vice President of Football Operations, and Dave Caldwell, who had been the team's general manager from January 2013 until through Week 12 in 2020.

Caldwell was ousted following a 27-25 loss to the Cleveland Browns, with Jaguars owner Shad Khan announcing his departure shortly after the game.

Now, the Jaguars are embarking on a new general manager search to find who will be the next executive to decide on the biggest free agency and draft decisions facing the team in the coming months.

As we march toward to team making a hire, we will look at the pros and cons of each potential candidate. Today, we will look at former Houston Texans general manager and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Rick Smith.

Does Smith make sense to be Jacksonville's next front office leader? We breakdown his biggest strengths and weaknesses here.

Background

Denver Broncos director of pro personnel (2000-2005)
Houston Texans General Manager (2006-2017)
Houston Texans Executive Vice President of Football Operations (2012-2017).

Before Rick Smith was hired to Denver's front office, he was an assistant coach with the Purdue Boilermakers, who he had played safety for. He eventually became their secondary coach before moving to the NFL. He was then Denver's assistant defensive backs coach from 1996-1999 before joining their front office in 2000.

In Denver, Smith worked under general managers Neal Dahlen (2000-2001) and Ted Sundquist (2002-2005). He was then hired by Houston in 2006 to be their second-ever general manager, replacing Charley Casserly. Smith entered a Texans organization that had just gone 2-14 and even made its next head coach hire in Gary Kubiak.

Houston had the top pick in the 2006 NFL Draft, but it is important to note that Casserly didn't step down until after that year's draft. Smith came to the team in the same offseason they took Mario Williams No. 1 overall, but Williams wasn't his pick.

Smith resigned from his post in Houston at the end of the 2017 season to help care for his sick wife. He has since spent the past three years out of the NFL.

Pros

During Smith's time with Houston, the Texans went to the playoffs on four different occasions due to four AFC South titles (2011-2012, 2015-2016). Considering Houston's 15-9 record over the Jaguars during that span, and the fact that Houston often bullied the Jaguars in the years they weren't even at the top of the division, the Jaguars likely know Smith's background well.

In Smith's 12 seasons, Houston finished below .500 in just four seasons (2006, 2010, 2013, 2017). The first of those seasons happened when Smith took over general manager duties following free agency and the draft, so it is more like three losing seasons are on his resumé. Jacksonville, meanwhile, has double-digit losses in nine of their last 10 seasons. While Houston never won a Super Bowl or even advanced deep into the playoffs under Smith, his 92-100 record is better than what Jacksonville has seen in some time.

One major issue the Jaguars had under the Caldwell/Tom Coughlin regimes was hitting on first-round picks. Smith doesn't have a flawless record here, but he does a good one.

During Smith's tenure, the Texans selected Duane Brown (2008), Brian Cushing (2009), Kareem Jackson (2010), J.J. Watt (2011), Whitney Mercilus (2012), DeAndre Hopkins (2013), Will Fuller (2016), and Deshaun Watson (2017). All of those are good picks, and there are even some future Pro Football Hall of Famers in there. He had his fair share of misses too, such as Jadeveon Clowney and Kevin Johnson, but his first-round hits outweigh that.

Moving up to select Watson is another feather in Smith's cap. Watson is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL and is already the best quarterback Houston's franchise has ever had, and it took a bold move from Smith and the Texans to grab him at No. 12 in the 2017 NFL Draft. Houston acquired the pick from the Cleveland Browns, trading their 25th overall pick in the 2017 NFL Draft and their first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Other teams had chances to take Watson and didn't, so give Smith and Houston some credit there.

Cons

While Smith's teams in Houston's were rarely "awful", he doesn't have a spotless record as a general manager. The biggest reason why is due to missteps at the most important position.

The Texans were bogged down at the quarterback position before they drafted Watson in large part because Smith couldn't find the right solution. Matt Schaub spent seven years in Houston as a mostly-solid quarterback, but he was never the answer and eventually even led Houston and Smith to the No. 1 overall pick in 2014.

After 2013, Houston started the following quarterbacks: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mallett, Case Keenum, Bryan Hoyer, T.J. Yates, Brandon Weeden, Brock Osweiler, and Tom Savage. Yikes.

That isn't even to mention the entire Osweiler fiasco. Yes, Smith was able to eventually unload Osweiler to the Cleveland Browns in a rare salary dump, but signing him to a four-year, $72 million contract ($37 million guaranteed) and getting just one year of play out of him is a bad look. Smith and the Texans eventually hit a home run with Watson, but it took some swings and misses.

There is also the situation where Smith and former Texans head coach Bill O'Brien never seemed to truly get along. There has never been a lot of clarity there, and Smith would be far from the first or last person to clash with O'Brien, but more details would need to be known about his failed relationship with his team's head coach.

Finally, there is the question of what a ceiling would look like for a Rick Smith-led franchise. Houston was rarely bad, but they finished with double-digit wins in just two of his seasons. They made the playoffs at 9-7 in two other seasons. That is better than what the Jaguars have done, of course, but the goal should always still be higher than a Wild Card exit.

Ultimately, Smith brings a lot of good things to the table. He did great work with Houston's first-round picks and they helped run the AFC South along with the Colts during his tenure.

With that said, the questions of his quarterback evaluation skills and his relationship with O'Brien are the biggest red flags. Luckily for him, though, he wouldn't need to be a great quarterback evaluator in Jacksonville. After all, there is a certain quarterback from Clemson who is pretty darn good that the Jaguars will likely take, so this issue is a bit of a moot point.