Jaguars GM Caldwell: “I encourage a different kind of perspective”

At around 2 P.M., Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell addressed the media about the firing of head coach Gus Bradley, as well of the future of the team. Caldwell paid his respects to Bradley for the past four years, and followed with discussing what he’s looking for in a new head coach.

Caldwell opened his press conference praising Bradley with “Their [The Bradley family] philanthropic work is second to none, and Jacksonville will miss them”. He followed that statement with “It became clear at the end of last week that this was the direction we had to go”.

After speaking first about Bradley, Caldwell stated: “In the short term, Doug Marrone will be the interim coach for the next two weeks.”

Caldwell was asked if he felt fortunate to still have his job, responding with the fact that the team has two wins this year and doesn’t necessarily feel fortunate. He then stated he didn’t have to “sell” himself to Shad Khan in order to keep his job, and rather Khan approached him and said “Hey, I expect big things”.

In selecting the next head coach, Caldwell said that Shad and Tony Khan, along with Mark Lamping and himself, will all contribute to making the decision.

The decision to fire Bradley was made after the loss to the Vikings in week 14. Caldwell stated that even if the Jaguars beat the Texans yesterday, Gus Bradley would have been fired.

A surprising point Caldwell made was when he was asked if there will be any mandates with the next head coach to continually play Blake Bortles at quarterback. Caldwell replied with “There won’t be any mandates”, and that the next coach will have a lot of input on Bortles’ future. He stated that he “Believes in Blake”, but then said “I encourage a different kind of perspective, the right perspective” on how to handle Blake Bortles.

Caldwell was later asked about potential head coaching candidates. When asked about if he will look into the college ranks for a coach, Caldwell replied “Yes”. After that, when asked about Tom Coughlin as a possibility, Caldwell said that Coughlin will definitely be considered and that he believes Coughlin has the energy to coach again.

I think that not mandating anything about Bortles with the next head coach is a good thing, but we won’t know for sure how much Caldwell means that when the new head coach in in place.

What do you take away from Dave Caldwell’s press conference?