Jaguars should fire Tom Coughlin, today

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan should ask for Tom Coughlin’s resignation/retirement or outright fire him, today. After the details from the NFL Player’s Association (NFLPA) that was released late Monday afternoon, it’s clear there has been a toxic environment created from the top down with Tom Coughlin in the top role in the front office.

I’m not going to rehash the details of the NFLPA’s release, however it’s unbelievable that the Jaguars accounted for 25 percent of all complaints over the past two years. That’s a staggering number, especially when you consider that league average should be 3 percent.

The one case detailed by the NFLPA was reportedly involving now Los Angeles Rams defender Dante Fowler, who was fined 25 times for around $700,000 for not using team rehab facilities in the offseason, which is not required and the Jaguars knew it was not required. There’s no real excuse for the overreact there, other than to try to lord over the players over frivolous things.

There’s a large gap between being a disciplinarian and comical overreach. What the Jaguars have done, under the guide of Tom Coughlin, since he took over as the Vice President of Football Operations was done under the knowledge they were breaking rules and imposing fines that they didn’t have the authority to under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, that has been in effect since Coughlin was the head coach of the New York Giants. It’s clear this was purposeful and now the franchise has a huge black eye because of it.

“You as players may want to consider this when you have a chance to select your next club.”

That last line from the NFLPA’s statement is damning, and quite honestly embarrassing. I can’t recall a situation where I have seen a professional sports player’s union more or less tell it’s members to not sign with a specific franchise.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan shares some of this embarrassment, and that’s what I’m going to keep calling it because that’s what it is, because he either was so hands off he didn’t know what was going on or he was complicit in the overreach. It’s difficult to hold an owner accountable, you can’t fire them, but the accountability needs to come in a statement showing this is not acceptable and not how you want your franchise to be run/appear.

Khan needs to ask for Coughlin’s resignation/retirement or fire him with cause, immediately.

There’s no reason to wait this out until the end of the year, which I believe is what will happen along with other sweeping changes. This is something you should take care of, immediately.

You have to start repairing the image of the franchise as fast as possible. You’ve already seen more than a handful of former Jacksonville Jaguars players cryptically or directly say the problem started two years ago, which is when Coughlin was hired.

The issues here are far more embarrassing than the team’s record the past decade.