During the 2020 offseason, Shahid Khan received criticism for choosing to keep Dave Caldwell as his Jaguars' general manager despite the team losing twice as many games as they'd won during his 7 years in the position. When the Jags managed to follow up a 2019 record of 6-19 with a horrendous 1-15 in 2020, major changes began happening, starting with the replacement of Caldwell.
Khan said that, as of 2019, he's had a hands-on approach with the roster and operations. “The roster control is [because] you don’t want players going in and out or contracts given until you’re aware of that. So striking the balance between delegation and abdication, I think, is an important point. Certainly, I found that in the last 15 months, having that necessitates a conversation, you’re part of the conversation with the GM and the head coach. So being part of that here for the immediate future I think is important to me.”
Trent Baalke, who took over as interim general manager in November when Caldwell was released, has been permanently hired in that position. In a press conference for Jacksonville, Baalke seemed confident in the team's direction. "I know this: We share a vision here between ownership, between the head coach and myself. We're very focused. I'm glad to be a part of it."
Khan also parted ways with Doug Marrone, who had been head coach of the team since 2016 and had a 23-43 record. He replaced him with Urban Meyer as the HC. Meyer previously led a successful coaching career as head coach of the Florida Gators (and Tim Tebow was on his roster, by the way), from which he resigned after the 2010 season due to health reasons, and later the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Hiring Meyer and instating Baalke as the GM was, in Khan's words, a "defining moment for the franchise."
Will there be major changes to the player roster?
It's hard to say because, as a whole, the team did underperform. Defense was unable to stop virtually any run game and offense struggled to put scores on the board. Starting quarterback Gardner Minshew II was benched for 5 of their 16 games due to a previously undisclosed thumb injury, but in his active 9 games he only averaged 1.8 TDs per week with a total of 16 for the entire season.
Minshew does, however, have a 66% pass completion rate, and he was only in his sophomore year. When it comes to performance issues from auspicious people - athletes, entertainers, businesspeople, students, anyone - "What do they need?" can be a game-changing question. Baker Mayfield needed Kevin Stefanski. Maybe what Gardner Minshew needs is Urban Meyer.
I want to take a moment and acknowledge the talent and genius of rookie running back James Robinson. He might have been injured the last two games of the 2020 season but, with an average of 106.4 yards per game, he was the most prominent and effective of Minshew's weapons. He was even ranked #4 on the NFL's Fantasy Football Rankings' Top 10 Running Backs.
The Jaguars' defense allowed a 13-point discrepancy (almost 2 full TDs+PATs) per week, and their opponents' scores were relatively high (41-7 Bears, 40-14 Ravens, 30-14 Texans, to name a few). They weren't without promise, though. Players like Adam Gotsis, Taven Bryan, Myles Jack, and Josh Allen (no, not that Josh Allen from Buffalo) showed intense promise this year. It would be pretty radical to see Urban Meyer bring out the team's full potential.
No doubt Jacksonville's going to spend their offseason rebuilding. I'm looking forward to seeing what they create.