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Jaguars casting a wide net for head coach vacancy already

By Sayre Bedinger

Jaguars; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich (right) leave the game against the New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Jaguars; Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady (12) and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich (right) leave the game against the New Orleans Saints at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Jacksonville Jaguars, who will be keeping GM Trent Baalke, are casting a wide net for their head coach vacancy already.

The NFL has altered its rules about when teams can begin interviewing and requesting interviews for prospective head coach candidates, and the Jacksonville Jaguars are taking advantage of that.

After firing Urban Meyer less than one season into that particular experiment, the Jaguars appear to be taking things a little more seriously this time around, looking at some of the best possible candidates and coaches around the league that have been long rumored for filling head-coaching vacancies.

We put together a list of some of the top possible candidates for the Jaguars, and they have already lined up interviews with a few of them.

Jaguars already lining up interviews with top HC candidates

Coaches the Jaguars have requested interviews with already:

  • Doug Pederson, free agent (former Eagles HC)
  • Dan Quinn, Cowboys DC
  • Kellen Moore, Cowboys OC
  • Byron Leftwich, Buccaneers OC
  • Todd Bowles, Buccaneers DC
  • Matt Eberflus, Colts DC

That list of prospective candidates for Jaguars owner Shad Khan and general manager Trent Baalke is expansive and growing.

The Jags made a massive mistake last offseason of zeroing in on Urban Meyer, someone who was basically blacklisted from the college ranks and who brought his shenanigans to the NFL.

It failed miserably and nobody could even tell if Meyer had the best intentions. In fact, it looks like he really didn’t.

He kept Trevor Lawrence in a “competition” with Gardner Minshew all offseason until the waning days of the preseason, if that gives you any indication.

The Jaguars likely need to go with an offensive-minded head coach and someone who could grow with Lawrence, the team’s top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and the obvious future of the franchise.

That is not to say that defensive-oriented coaches should be eliminated from the discussion — the Jaguars still need to hire the best head coach candidate — but the expectation should be for this team to hire an offensive-minded coach.

Given his experience with Tom Brady the last couple of years and his work with Bruce Arians, it would be surprising if Byron Leftwich — a former first-round pick of the Jaguars — was not the front-runner for the job.

Leftwich is eyeing his first head coaching gig and the chance to go back to the team that drafted him and work with Trevor Lawrence is an appealing first-time gig.

There may be other candidates who use the Jaguars as leverage because their roster is, overall, not good. At this point, however, only the Jags and Raiders have actual head coach vacancies and that figures to change as early as next Monday.

The Jags are wasting no time getting facetime with these prospective candidates, and they shouldn’t. The clock is ticking, and the iron is getting hot. Soon, the Jaguars will simply need to strike.

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