Update [2008-1-24 17:41:22 by River City Rage]: Florida Times Union Reports that the Jaguars have hired former Detroit Lions Defensive Coordinator Donnie Henderson, NOT to serve as Defensive Coordinator, but according to Del Rio "His role will be defined later,"

My take on this is that it means that Assistant Head Coach Head Campo boosts his chances for a promotion, and Henderson becomes an Asst Head Coach/Secondary. Henderson is a solid secondary coach and would we a welcome addition to our Coaching Staff. I like this hire, even though his resume is tainted by years with the Lions. I think this makes it an almost "sure thing" that Dave Campo is our next Defensive Coordinator.

So, it's official, Mike Smith has inherited all that is the Atlanta Falcons.

Which means we need a new Defensive Coordinator.

Let's take a (very quick and under-researched) look at who's out there that we could get...

1. Dave Campo: Currently Assistant Head Coach/Secondary for Jack Del Rio and should be the leading candidate.  If this were politics, Dave would be the "more of the same" defensive coordinator. 4-3 guy, not a lot of blitzing, use of DPR's, etc, will continue.  I don't imagine that we'd see any sort of large scale changes in approach or attitude in our defensive philosophy if the Jaguars pass the torch to Campo.  I'm a fan of consistency, but there is some benefit to the introduction of an outsiders perspective.  I'm thinking that our defense stagnated a bit, and someone else might be the better choice.  Campo was interviewed for the Defensive Coordinator job in San Fransisco, but withdrew his name.
2. Rex Ryan: Defensive Coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens (sort of?).  Rex Ryan, son of Buddy Ryan and brother of Rob Ryan has an obvious linage  of defensive minded coaches.  The sucess of the Ravens Defense in 2005, 06 and 07 also need not be stated.  Ryan is also Friends with Jack Del Rio from their days in Baltimore.  You might recognize his name from the Ravens/Patriots game where on a 4th down Tom Brady was sacked but the play never happened because Ryan called a Time Out, not that it should be held against him, but it's something.  He's a 4-3 guy, good with aging players, not quite as strong, in my opinion, with the replacement of players as interchangeable parts.  What I've always liked about the Ravens defense is that no matter how old Ray Lewis gets, he always looks good because of the people in front of him.  I like focusing our defense on the big guys up front and Rex Ryan would continue that.
3. Gregg Williams: Assistant Head Coach/Defense, Washington Redskins.  I'm biased here because when I see "Gregg" I can only think of Easterbrook and that makes me upset.  Gregg is the "change" candidate, considering that he loves to blitz and blitz some more.  Gregg would require our defense to take a more aggressive approach to bringing the heat. While that might be a nice change to our guys, there are some serious impediments to Gregg coming to Jacksonville.  First off, he's under contract to the Redskins and would have to be fired in order to come to Jacksonville.  Second, he's vastly overpaid and probably get's more money than Del Rio to be an AHC.  He'd need to take a pay cut AND give Del Rio an extension to even try and hire him.  Third, and most importantly, he'd want total control of the defense, something Jack Del Rio probably wouldn't do.
4. Ron Rivera: Linebackers Coach, San Diego Chargers.   Here's an interesting possibility.  The former Defensive Coordinator of the very good 2006 Chicago Bears gets a de facto demotion by going to San Diego.  He's a 4-3 guy that could be an option, though he's a hire that would want to be a head coaching candidate ASAP, not good for continuity.
5. Mike Trgovac: Defensive Coordinator, Carolina Panthers.  Now I'm just throwing stuff out there.  Mike's had the Panthers in the top five in yards allowed since 2002, and that's worth something.  I don't know enough about him to know if his style is fitting to ours, but he's someone who's done a consistently  solid job with some inferior teams, and maybe his price lowered a bit with the Panthers struggle this season.  Don't hold this year's stats against him though, the Carolina lack of a quarterback has nothing to do with his defense.
6. Rob Ryan: Defensive Coordinator, Oakland Raiders.  My mom loves this guy cause he "looks like a pirate".  And he's a Ryan brother, which means Del Rio might have some sway with him.  But there's the whole fiasco with Al Davis not letting Ryan be fired by Lane Kiffin, which means that he'd probably be hard to get.  Also, while the Raiders defense has been vastly better than the offense, particularly in the Secondary, it's a little shaky (see the Warren Sapp incident) and also out of style for the Jaguars.  Rob Ryan uses a more man to man press coverage style (sorta like the Packers did against the Giants) and the Jaguars secondary is less suited for that than our Cover 2 zone coverage.  He's a very very long shot candidate.
7. Dom Capers: HAHhahahahahhahah....hahhahahahaha..hahahahahahahahaa....hahahahahaahaa...Just kidding.  No way does this happen.

-Chris