Dave Caldwell says new coach will have input in who Jaguars QB will be

Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell held a press conference on Monday afternoon following the firing of former head coach Gus Bradley to announced Doug Marrone as the interim head coach and face questions about the future of the franchise. Much of the beginning of the press conference was Caldwell talking about Bradley and his family, lauding him as a man and for what he did off the field. The questions quickly turned to what would be going forward, includinteresting questions about the future head coach and quarterback Blake Bortles.

“There won’t be any mandates for anyone who comes in,” Caldwell stated when asked point blank if the new head coach would have a mandate to work with Bortles at quarterback. “There are no untouchables in this organization.”

On one hand it’s refreshing to hear Caldwell not commit to making it work with Bortles and whoever the new head coach is, because it would significantly hamstring the hiring process of the new head coach. On the other hand, it’s one of those “I’ll believe it when I see it” type things, because it’s easy to say now but much harder to actually happen.

“I still believe in Blake (Bortles) very much,” Caldwell added. “The head coach will have a lot of input into who the quarterback will be.”

Caldwell was asked later on that if he wanted to make sure to get a coach who shared his vision of Bortles, which he kind of shot down.

“I think he still has a high ceiling but I want to be realistic. He has to play better, but we have to play better around him.”

Caldwell also indicated that interim head coach Doug Marrone will be a candidate for the full-time position and that Tom Coughlin is definitely someone they are interested in.