Jacksonville Jaguars hire Jeff Ferguson as Director of Athletic Training

Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer continues to fill out every aspect of his staff, and the latest hire comes in the sports performance department, as Jeff Ferguson has been added as director of athletic training.

NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero first reported the news on Monday, and Meyer confirmed Ferguson’s hire at his press conference on Tuesday.

Most recently, Ferguson spent the past year serving as the CEO of WellStrong, an established medical services management company, in 2020 and early 2021. Prior to that, Ferguson spent 2019 and parts of 2020 as vice president of player health and safety for the XFL. Before his time in the XFL, Ferguson spent 13 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers from 2006 through 2018.

Ferguson first joined the 49ers in 2006 as the team’s head athletic trainer. He then worked his way up to director of football operations and sports medicine in 2011. He was promoted again to the post of vice president of football operations in 2013, and later, from 2016 to 2018, served as San Francisco’s vice president of medical services/athletic trainer.

Trent Baalke, the current general manager for the Jaguars, worked with Ferguson in San Francisco. Baalke held many roles with the 49ers while Ferguson was also employed by the franchise, including serving as the team’s general manager from 2011 through 2016.

When asked about finding a replacement for the position of director of sports performance — following the resignation of Chris Doyle due to the backlash of hiring Doyle in the first place — Meyer said the organization is still evaluating potential hires there, but is getting closer to a decision. Meyer also briefly spoke about Ferguson’s hiring during the press conference:

“We’re pretty close to finalizing our evaluation (for the director of sports performance position),” Meyer said. “Anthony Schlegel and we hired three new coaches in the strength room. Brandon Ireland, Adam Potts and Ced(ric Scott) are working directly (with him) and they’ve done a great job. We hired a new trainer in Jeff Ferguson. He’s been outstanding.

“We’re still in the evaluation phase, but I feel pretty good about where we’re at. I think you know the importance we put on the sports performance team and it will be the best. They’re as good as anyone in the NFL and I feel great with where we’re at right now. Our nutritionist has been great. We kept the same nutrition staff. Our equipment staff is great. Sports psychology, trainers and everybody, that all falls under the umbrella of sports performance. The analytics piece has been fantastic so far.”

With the hiring of Ferguson, Scott Trulock — who most recently served as director of player health and performance — is now out. Trulock was originally hired by the Jaguars as head athletic trainer in 2014, and spent seven seasons in Jacksonville.