The Misunderstood Case of Former Jaguars GM Trent Baalke

Former Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke was always misunderstood by the one person whose opinion mattered the most -- owner Shad Khan.

That isn't a defense of Baalke, who exits his Jaguars tenure after four seasons with a 25-43 record. But it is important to remember why Baalke remained in power for four years and why his departure from the franchise has come two weeks into a search for a new head coach.

When it comes to Baalke, there are a lot of things he and the Jaguars have improved upon in recent years. The team has been better about extending their own homegrown talent; they have gotten more value out of trades both in the draft and at the trade deadline; and they have drafted at least OK, which is a step up from previous years.

But there are also a lot of reasons Baalke's stay in Jacksonville was several years longer than it should have been. Reasons that should have convinced Khan to move on from Baalke long ago.

It has now taken Khan two different coaching searches to finally face the truth about Baalke. The fan base's cries for his removal since the 2021 season weren't misplaced anger from a base hungry for wins. The murmurs of coaches having reservations with Baalke in 2022 were true then, just like they are true now.

But Khan has too long ignored the noise. He saw the positive things Baalke did, and ignored the fact that once one gets a bad reputation inside the coaching class in the NFL, it is hard to shake it.

If Khan ever thought fans wanted Baalke gone because of draft picks or free agency moves, he was wrong. If he ever thought coaches wanted Baalke gone as a power play, he was wrong there too.

Coaches have never disliked Baalke because of his ability as a general manager. He has instead caught a bad reputation among coaches because he is simply a survivor. He has survived several head coach firings because of his ability to assert influence and paint the head coach in a negative light.

Sometimes, Baalke has been right. But fair or not, coaches see it as a red flag. And that is something that Khan never understood about Baalke until Liam Coen left his franchise at the alter.

Baalke wasn't a bad general manager in terms of building a roster. He was, however, a deeply misunderstood one who was paired with an owner who failed to see that before it was too late.

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