Offensive line coach George Warhop expected to be retained by Jaguars, per report

As newly hired Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer continues to build his staff, one of the bigger questions is which, if any, of the current coaches from the Doug Marrone regime Meyer would retain. It appears we now have our first answer to that, as Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports reports that Meyer is expected to bring back offensive line coach George Warhop.

Warhop has spent the past two season with the Jaguars, after being hired by Marrone in 2019. In 2020, the Jaguars ranked 11th in the NFL with 4.5 rushing yards per carry, but ranked 29th in rushing yards per game (94.9), due to a league low 337 rushing attempts. The low rushing attempts and yardage totals had a lot to do with the team playing from behind more often than not this past season.

In pass protection under Warhop’s lead, the Jaguars allowed 44 sacks, which was tied with the Dallas Cowboys for seventh most in the NFL (although not all of that was the fault of the offensive line). On a per game basis, that is 2.75 sacks allowed in each contest.

Looking at the advanced stats, Football Outsiders (click link for definitions of each metric) ranks the Jaguars’ offensive line pretty highly in the ground game. Jacksonville ranks 11th in “Adjusted Line Yards,” seventh in “Power Success Rate,” and seventh in “Stuffed Rate” (meaning the Jaguars did not have a lot of running plays that were ended at or behind the line of scrimmage). The team does rank poorly in pass protection, however, coming in at 25th in the NFL in “Adjusted Sack Rate.”

While there were some struggles at the right tackle and left tackle positions with Jawaan Taylor and Cam Robinson, the interior offensive line starters — A.J. Cann (Pro Football Focus grade of 69.0), Brandon Linder (PFF grade of 80.0) and Andrew Norwell (PFF grade of 67.9) — all had fairly strong seasons under Warhop’s tutelage. One of the biggest questions for Meyer and the new general manager this offseason is whether or not to re-sign Robinson or find a new left tackle.

Warhop has been an offensive line coach for several decades. Prior to his time in Jacksonville, he served as offensive line coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2014 through 2018), Cleveland Browns (2009 through 2013), San Francisco 49ers (2005 through 2008), Dallas Cowboys (2003 and 2004), Arizona Cardinals (1998 through 2002) and the (then) St. Louis Rams (1996 and 1997). Before getting his first coaching job in the NFL, Warhop served as offensive line coach at various schools in the college ranks, as well as for the London Monarchs in NFL Europe in 1991 and 1992.