The Jacksonville Jaguars announced they were parting ways with head coach Doug Pederson on Monday, but they curiously chose to retain general manager Trent Baalke for the foreseeable future. 

While changes in the Jaguars’ building were expected for quite some time, many wondered whether the organization should have done a complete overhaul, especially considering Baalke’s questionable draft picks over the last four years and latest free-agent decisions.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan and Baalke joined a Zoom press conference after Pederson’s firing was announced, and Khan was asked about Baalke’s future with the franchise in light of the ongoing head coaching search.

Khan had quite the interesting answer—and he said it right in front of Baalke, too:

“If [a head coaching candidate) were to say, ‘I would like to re-evaluate the front office and general manager,’ what would your response be?’"

“My response would be, ‘How would you improve it?’ And then if it is credible, you know, you want to do it,” Khan said.

Not exactly a convincing argument to keep Baalke around. 

Five months after Khan declared the 2024 squad the “best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars ever,” the Jags crawled to a 4-13 record in the AFC South, marking the tenth time the team has recorded double-digit losses in Khan’s 13-year tenure as owner. 

With Khan prepared to hire his sixth head coach of the Jaguars, fans should be taking everything he says with a heaping of salt, no matter how badly they may want Baalke out.


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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jaguars Owner Gives Telling Answer on GM Trent Baalke’s Future Right in Front of Him.

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