Well, 10 games into the season and the Jags are all but out of the playoffs and because of that we are going to be phasing out some of our stories involving the playoff race such as "Ideal Scenario". In the place of that story series I'll be doing another series about the Jacksonville Jaguars' GM Shack Harris.
"The Tao of Shack" or "Keeping Shack Harris, a recipe for continued success"(working titles).
I'm a huge Shack Harris fan and I'll be breaking down his performance as GM since his inception. I believe that this season's collapse can be traced to the destruction of our offensive line. We lost Vince Manuwai, one of the league's premier guards. That disaster was compounded when Brad Meester, a top-flight center, injured his biceps. Now, as if losing two start caliber players on the line wasn't enough, we lose our two most competent back-ups, one to injury, the other to a fluke shooting (Williams and Collier). What does Shack do? He signs Chris Naeole, a solid veteran who still is familiar with the Jaguars' system. What happens next is indicitive of our entire season. Naeole breaks his hand in pre-game warm-ups just prior to his first start. These utter disasters are not the fault of James "Shack" Harris, they are fate and part of football. Let us not forget about the injury to our star free agent Jerry Porter. We won't even know if he's a bust until next season. No one could predict the need for hamstring surgery... I'd never even heard of it prior to Jerry needing it and I've been watching football for 18 years (Since I was six for those keeping count).
To all the fans calling for Shack's head, I say your anger is misplaced. Bitterness should not beget rash decisions.
The story is going to be broken down into multiple sections, one on free agency, one on the draft, one on compiling a coaching staff, and one on contract extensions.
If any of you have any story ideas or biographies on any of the staff let us know in the comments. We want to write about what you want to read about so let us know. Also, if any of you want to start working on scouting reports of any players, please do and post them as fan-posts.
-Collin