Jaguars ‘likely’ to fire Doug Marrone after season

The Jacksonville Jaguars are reportedly “likely” to move on from head coach Doug Marrone after the season ends, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.

“It’s gonna depend on what happens in these next couple of games here,” Garafolo said. “But I think everyone is looking at this situation saying its a likely coaching change in Jacksonville.”

Garafolo did not mention a complete regime change, only to say that the Jaguars will likely allow Marrone to continue through the final four games of the season. Last season, Jaguars owner Shad Khan released a statement indicating that a decision on any coaching or general manager change was ultimately up to EVP of Football Operations Tom Coughlin. Coughlin decided at that time to retain Marrone as well as General Manager Dave Caldwell for one more season.

“That is going to be something that as we get into the offseason, into the immediate offseason, you’re expecting the change to happen in Jacksonville. But Coughlin’s talking like they want to play this thing out, they’re hopeful to be able to play these final four games out.”

Marrone recently made the switch to rookie quarterback Gardner Minshew II which, Garafolo says, is the only sliver of hope the Jaguars’ head coach may have in this situation to convince ownership of retaining him.

“Maybe if you’re a head coach in this situation — if you can get your owner to see — hey I’ve got a quarterback — in this case Minshew — that I can work with a little bit, that’s your best shot at job security at this point.”

Ultimately, the Jaguars will likely head into the 2020 offseason with a coaching search, the question is only now if it happens, when will the Jaguars make the decision to move on? There are four games remaining, and their next opportunity to prove themselves will come against the Los Angeles Chargers with a rookie quarterback who clearly creates energy around his teammates.