The Jacksonville Jaguars have ripped off the Band-Aid and fired general manager Trent Baalke on Wednesday. Jacksonville went 25-43 in Baalke’s four seasons as general manager with one playoff appearance in 2022 when the team reached the AFC divisional round.
Jaguars owner Shad Khan released the following statement, via CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones:
“Following several discussions with Trent Baalke this week, we both arrived at the conclusion that it is in our mutual best interests to respectfully separate, effective immediately. Trent leaves us with my deepest appreciation for his efforts over the past five seasons. Ethan Waugh will serve as interim general manager and play an important role, with others, as we continue the process of interviewing candidates to serve as our new head coach. I am deeply committed to building a winner here in Jacksonville and look forward to introducing a new head coach who will make that happen for our players and fans alike.”
The timing of Baalke’s firing isn’t a coincidence. Jacksonville interviewed both Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, two of the hiring cycle’s top candidates, for their head coach vacancy, but both took other jobs. Johnson went with the Chicago Bears and Glenn opted for the New York Jets. On Wednesday, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen pulled himself out of the running for the job to stay with the NFC South champions.
There are plenty of reasons why top candidates wouldn’t have wanted to work with Baalke. As the San Francisco 49ers general manager, he famously chased Jim Harbaugh out of his tenure as head coach of the 49ers despite the team reaching at least the NFC conference championship in the first three of Harbaugh’s four seasons there. That run also included a Super Bowl appearance in the 2012 season. Baalke helped the 49ers hire one-and-done head coach Jim Tomsula (2015) and one-and-done head coach Chip Kelly (2016) before being relieved of his duties in the Bay Area.
Buccaneers’ Liam Coen out of running for Jaguars head-coaching job, OC signing massive deal to remain in Tampa
Jordan Dajani
Baalke joined the Jaguars as the team’s director of player personnel in 2020 before being promoted to the role of general manager in an interim capacity and then to the full-time role in 2021. He did select quarterback Trevor Lawrence first overall in 2021 while working with Urban Meyer as the team’s head coach. He also opted to draft Georgia edge rusher Travon Walker first overall in 2022 over now-Pro Bowl Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who went second overall after being coached by Harbaugh at Michigan. Baalke failed to build a consistent winner in one of the softer divisions in the NFL, the AFC South, and now he is gone after multiple top coaches decided not to work with him.
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