Myles Jack Goes to Bat for Jaguars HC Doug Marrone

Veteran linebacker Myles Jack gave a passionate and genuine response today when asked whether he would like to see head coach Doug Marrone return in 2020, throwing his support behind his head coach.

Nobody knows what the future holds for the Jacksonville Jaguars after the final whistle of the 2020 regular season blows on Jan. 3. When the clock's last second ticks, the Jaguars' entire roster and coaching staff will be walking into a period of unknowns. 

That is the nature of the NFL, after all. Sitting at 1-12, the Jaguars know the reality of their situation -- it is hard for regimes to survive one last-place season, let alone three in a row. 

But even despite that, there is still support within the locker room for head coach Doug Marrone, whose fate is the next major question mark facing the organization. 

Eventually, Jaguars owner Shad Khan will probe his team's roster on what they feel the direction of the franchise should be. Khan said last year he had the same discussions with players. Now, we know at least one Jaguars player will use his audience with Khan to go to bat for Marrone. 

"[This is] kind of like high classified information, but typically we’ll meet with Mr. Khan after the season and sit down in his office and talk to him about certain things. He’ll ask us what we do and don’t like," Jack began to answer when asked if he would like to see Marrone return in 2021. 

"Me personally, I just have a lot of love for Doug. I just feel like it’s been a rough year for him."

Jack's stance isn't an uncommon one, nor is it hard to understand. Jack has played for Marrone in four of his five seasons in the NFL, while Marrone has been on Jacksonville's staff for the entirety of Jack's NFL career. Jack doesn't know much about life in the NFL without Marrone as his leader. 

Marrone's start with the Jaguars got off to a fantastic start. He proved his mettle as the team's interim coach before being made head coach before the 2017 season. He then pushed all the right buttons as the Jaguars went 10-6, won the AFC South, and advanced all the way to the AFC Championship. 

Had referees not blown a Jack fumble recovery dead too early in a play, we are likely instead talking about Marrone as a coach with a Super Bowl appearance on his résumé.

The next three years went as bad as anyone could have imagined. The Jaguars are 12-33 in that span, suffering through three consecutive seasons of double-digit losses and a 12-game losing streak the Jaguars just haven't found their ways out of yet.

"I felt like the 2017 year when we were really good, I felt like he didn’t get enough credit and then the years when we were bad, he kind of had to eat that. That all kind of got thrown on him," Jack said Thursday. 

"I’m always riding with Coach Marrone. We’ve had a lot of personal conversations and just things that I’ve had to get over and deal with that he’s always had my back with. Even when I’ve been wrong in certain situations, he’s always had my back, so I’m always going to have Doug’s back."

As mentioned, this isn't a new opinion held in Jacksonville's locker room. The same sentiment was shared by players publically and privately in 2019 when Marrone's job status was in question entering the final weeks. 

As Marrone's job seemingly circled the drain in 2019, his locker room galvanized behind him and made it clear that he wasn't seen as the problem. That opinion hasn't changed, even if the wins have still eluded the squad.

"If the man was [were] to ask me do I want Doug back, absolutely without a doubt. I just felt like this year, it’s weird to say like it’s not a great technical term but it just wasn’t fair for Doug," Jack said. 

"It really wasn’t how things kind of shook out and the cards that he was dealt, but I definitely feel like Coach Marrone is a great coach. He’s definitely someone you want in your corner. I feel like if people really got to know Doug, they would really like him. Coach Marrone’s a real cool dude outside of ball, so I’m vouching for him absolutely.”

Will Jack's support for Marrone end up helping his coach preserve his job in Jacksonville? That remains to be seen considering the Jaguars do not have their 2021 general manager yet in place. As of now, it is likely Marrone's fate has yet to even be decided.

But if Jack was making the call, he'd be keeping Marrone -- even with the three years of long Sundays. Marrone has been loyal to him, something that clearly hasn't gone unnoticed.

Whether that means much once the 2020 season ends is unknown, but Marrone can at least take solace in the fact that he has the backing of his '53'.