Six months ago, I wrote this about the Jacksonville Jaguars being an embarrassment of a franchise. This team had lucked into a franchise cornerback, star outside linebacker, and Pro Bowl pass rusher — all in the same draft class.
And they squandered it all.
They were handed a young nucleus to cornerstone all three position groups on defense and they decided to walk both ways uphill.
Today we’re faced with yet another dumbass decision that joins a long list of dumbass decisions dating back to when Dave Caldwell was hired as general manager back in 2013. Cut Leonard Fournette? Sure. Why not? The running backs room is already pretty rough, why not reduce the number of veteran players around your question mark at quarterback? Why wait until next year when Fournette’s contract is up when we can just cut him now?
It’s just an insane list of questions going back Caldwell’s entire tenure:
Why not hand oft-injured Nick Foles a hundred million dollars?
Why not pass on Lamar Jackson in favor of Taven Bryan?
Why not give Blake Bortles a contract extension?
Why not let Allen Robinson test free agency?
Why not switch Myles Jack to middle linebacker?
Why not trade Calais Campbell for peanuts when you don’t have much talent at defensive line?
Why not dress down Jalen Ramsey after a loss that was anyone’s fault but his?
Why not make Zane Beadles and Andrew Norwell the highest paid at their position and then ask them to play in a less functional offense with a worse quarterback?
Why not draft a punter in the third round?
It’s an absolute train wreck of bad optics, poor investments, lazy scouting, and ego-driven contract extensions. No one knows what they have to do to get paid. Bad players get second contracts. Good players are shown the door. Running backs get picked fourth overall. All-Pro quarterbacks get passed over for a guy who’s not even a natural thrower of the football.
There is no plan. There is no philosophy. There is no sense of where this team is trying to get and then building a roster that helps them get there and a coaching staff that makes said roster the best at what they do.
And it shows! I mean, this team has 51 wins over the past decade. That’s better than only the Cleveland Browns and looking at their roster, I’ll tell you who I’d rather root for.
The Jaguars are bad until they aren’t... and with key members of the front office and coaching staff nowhere near a hot seat, they aren’t getting better any time soon.