Jacksonville Jaguars fire OC Jedd Fisch, could be eyeing Marc Trestman as replacement

After two seasons in Jacksonville, the Jaguars have decided to move on from Offensive Coordinator Jedd Fisch. Things never went according to plan for the Jacksonville Jaguars as rookie QB Blake Bortles, was thrust into the starting lineup in week 4 following an offseason that preached a patient approach of learning from the sidelines for the 2 year old signal caller. The statistical result of Bortles rookie performance was disappointing to say the least. He posted the 3rd worst total QBR for a QB since 2006, though if it’s any consolation his 21.9 rating was a full 10 points above second place (Blaine Gabbert’s 11.9 in 2011 which narrowly beat out Jimmy Clausen’s 2010 QBR or 11.0 as the worst since 2006.) Neither is a name the Jaguars hope to see their young QB connected with going forward.

With a rookie QB and 3 of the teams top 4 receivers all rookies, and there lead rusher a former college QB (Denard Robinson) it’s hard to pin the blame squarely on Fisch for the offenses struggles, but the Orlando Sentinel reports that Fisch didn’t have a great relationship with his players, most notably, the franchise QB: “Jaguars players complained…about Fisch having little to no feeling for play calling and belittling rookie QB Blake Bortles in practice.”

The NFL is a QB driven league and if you’re the offensive coordinator of team drafting a QB in the top 3, you had better learn to play nice, or pack your bags. Fisch was hired away from the University of Miami where he had served as the offensive coordinator, but has had jobs in the NFL as an assistant dating back to 2003, so expect him to land on his feet, likely back in the college ranks.

As for his vacated position, there’s a familiar name being linked to the job. Marc Trestman, the former head coach of the Chicago Bears has apparently struck up a friendship the past few year with Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley. Trestman seemed to be in over his head in 2014 as a Head Coach, but his impressive run with former Bears back up Josh McCown in 2013 should have any team with a young QB and open offensive coaching spot calling for an interview. When asked specifically about the possibility of hiring Trestman, Bradley said he “hadn’t thought much into it yet.” (per Jaguars beat reporter @ryanohalloran.)

The fit is hard to ignore. Bradley is doing a nice job rebuilding the defense, combining young talent with veteran leadership, but having a franchise QB means 3-13 seasons are no longer acceptable. (They may never be acceptable, but at least when it was a tandem of Chad Henne and Blaine Gabbert taking snaps it was easy enough to pin the record on lack of talent at the QB position.)

Trestman needs a new project to rebuild his reputation as a QB whisperer, and given the aforementioned success with the more mobile Josh McCown and struggles with Jay Cutler as well as his former CFL teams acquisition of the rights to controversial QB Tim Tebow, Trestman has to be enticed by the size and athleticism of Blake Bortles. At 6’5, 232 lbs Bortles rushed for over 400 yards in his rookie season and averaged 1.4 yards more per rushing attempt (7.5) than pass attempt (6.1).

All the good things that were said about Bortles leading up to the draft last year hold true, he’s got an impressive arm, but he’s still learning to control it. And despite taking a beating in his rookie season (sacked 55 times in 14 games) the early indication is that Bortles hasn’t let the hits get into his head never backing down from pressure and living up to his billing as a young Ben Roethlisberger, at least from a fearless competitor standpoint. There seems to be no question that Bortles wants to learn, now the Jaguars just need to find him a better teacher.

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