Jaguars add 3 more to personnel staff

The Jaguars are continuing its efforts to re-shape the organization from the ground up under the direction of head coach Urban Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke.

Today, the team announced the addition of three people to its personnel department in senior personnel executive Michael Davis, director of roster management Trip MacCracken and player personnel coordinator Drew Hughes.

Baalke, in a statement released by the team, noted how each staff member got to where they are today:

Mike, Trip, and Drew will be key contributors to our personnel department. Mike and Trip bring 45 years of combined experience in the NFL and Drew has over 8 years of experience directing the recruiting efforts at Power 5 universities. Mike and I worked together for the New York Jets organization from 1998-2000. He has a proven track record as a talent evaluator and will focus his attention on the evaluation and assessment of college prospects.

Trip has spent 18 years in the NFL as a football administrator, salary cap expert, and lead contract negotiator. He most recently gained extensive knowledge of the player evaluation process while serving as the Director of Player Personnel for the XFL’s New York Guardians. He will be involved in every aspect of player acquisition and player retention, with key oversight of the salary cap, contract negotiations, and roster management.

As a recruiting coordinator for three Southeastern Conference schools Drew has extensive knowledge of many of the top college prospects in the country and that knowledge will be important in the assessment and evaluation of prospects in preparation for the NFL Draft. In addition, he will coordinate the workflow within the collegiate and pro personnel departments and assist in all areas of the personnel evaluation process.

This comes just one day after the team announced two other additions to its personnel staff in Tom Gamble as the team’s senior personnel executive and Ryan Stamper as the team’s director of player assessment.

Davis, an NFL executive for over two decades, last served as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs in the same role for five years. Prior to his stint with the Chiefs, Davis held the same title with the Philadelphia Eagles after spending two seasons as a scout with the organization.

His longest-tenured position was with the New York Jets, where Davis spent 16 years, ultimately climbing the ladder to become the team’s director of college scouting.

MacCracken, a long-respected personnel executive in the NFL, was most recently a member of the New York Guardians in the now-defunct XFL as the team’s Director of Player Personnel. In the NFL, MacCracken spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs as the team’s Director of Football Administration from 2010-17.

With the Jaguars MacCracken essentially replaces John Idzik who was the team’s salary cap manager under the title of “Special assistant to general manager.” The Jaguars let go of Idzik during the regime shift in January.

Hughes, a former personnel director within the college ranks, last spent time (2020) with the South Carolina Gamecocks, working alongside Will Muschamp.

“Previously he managed the recruiting efforts at the University of Tennessee and was the director of player personnel at Florida from 2014-17,” the Jaguars stated in its release.

“Hughes held similar roles at N.C. State in 2013 and Central Florida in 2012. He also served as a recruiting specialist at Alabama from 2007-11. Since 2012, Hughes has helped his teams acquire 30 NFL Draft picks, including 12 in the 2018 draft.”