Jaguars To Retain HC Doug Marrone, GM Dave Caldwell?
We heard last week that the Jaguars were considering a major organizational shakeup, with head coach Doug Marrone, executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin, and GM Dave Caldwell potentially all on the chopping block. Since then, Coughlin was fired, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports that his dismissal may be the only major coaching/front office change Jacksonville makes.
Team owner Shad Khan, despite his apparent predilection for current and former Patriots staffers, would prefer to maintain continuity. Rapoport says the Coughlin firing was well-received in the locker room, and he adds that Marrone had to constantly put out fires regarding Coughlin’s fining system. If his team performs well over the final two weeks of the season, Marrone could be back.
The same goes for Caldwell, whose past couple of drafts have been good enough to give him a chance to be retained. Although the team’s front office will have to somehow deal with Nick Foles‘ contract, the fact that Coughlin is out of the picture has apparently made agents comfortable with having their clients sign with the Jags.
To replace Coughlin, Khan may turn to his son, Tony Khan. Tony Khan currently serves as vice chairman and director of football operations for Fulham Football Club, and he has an analytics-driven approach that would fit in well with the modern game.
The Jags close out the 2019 season with winnable games against the Falcons and Colts.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/19/19
Today’s practice squad moves:
Cleveland Browns
- Signed: LB Jermaine Grace
- Released: QB Eric Dungey
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DB Jayson Stanley
- Placed on PS-IR: Terry Godwin
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: WR Jamal Custis
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Signed: WR Jaydon Mickens
South Notes: Godwin, Peat, Marrone
Buccaneers WR Chris Godwin left Sunday’s victory over Detroit due to a hamstring injury, and since Tampa Bay is out of playoff contention, Godwin’s breakout 2019 campaign may end prematurely. Curiously, fellow wideout Mike Evans has already been placed on IR with a hamstring ailment, and yet another receiver, Scott Miller, also left the Lions game due to a hamstring issue.
That has led some to question the way in which head coach Bruce Arians is running things, and as Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times writes, Arians has conceded that he may be overworking his receivers. “We’ll be talking with our sports science people about it,” Arians said. “Maybe I’ve overworked them in practice, the receivers, because we need the reps. Our quarterbacks need the reps, so we run them this time of the year more than I would probably like to, but we need the reps.” The hamstring injuries may all just be a coincidence, but it’s worth keeping an eye on the team’s new sports science department moving forward.
Jenna Laine of ESPN.com says Arians has already ruled Godwin out for Week 16 but hopes he will play in the 2019 finale.
Now for more from the league’s south divisions:
- Good news for the playoff-bound Saints. As Mike Triplett of ESPN.com tweets, New Orleans guard Andrus Peat, who has missed the last five games with a broken arm, has returned to practice. The team’s offense has performed just fine in Peat’s absence, but the Saints would surely like to have their 2018 Pro Bowler back in action.
- The Saints continued to bolster their secondary by adding safety D.J. Swearinger on Wednesday, just two days after claiming CB Janoris Jenkins. As Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle observes, the Saints did their due diligence in the DB market before signing Swearinger, working out nine total players (Twitter link). That list included recognizable vets DeShawn Shead and Kentrell Brice.
- The Jaguars parted ways with executive vice president Tom Coughlin yesterday, and many believe that head coach Doug Marrone will be axed at the end of the season. However, Marrone said he has not heard anything in that regard from owner Shad Khan, nor does he expect to (h/t Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk). Meanwhile, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk believes that, since Khan did not also fire Marrone when he fired Coughlin, Marrone (and GM Dave Caldwell) could be back in 2020. But Coughlin seems to have been fired largely as a result of a damning NFLPA report that surfaced Monday, so the fact that Marrone and Caldwell will stay on board for the rest of 2019 probably doesn’t mean very much.
- The Colts tried to shore up their CB position by signing Briean Boddy-Calhoun yesterday, and as Wilson tweets, Indy also brought in CB Ken Crawley for a tryout.
Latest On Tom Coughlin, Jaguars’ Plans
While Tom Coughlin is expected to pursue other opportunities in football, the since-fired Jaguars executive was planning to leave the team on his own accord at season’s end, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reports.
Furthermore, Jags owner Shad Khan did not give Coughlin a chance to resign before firing him, Florio notes, adding that Coughlin was expected to announce next week he was leaving after the regular season’s conclusion. This lends further credence to the notion Khan’s dismissal of the third-year executive VP came as a result of an arbitrator’s ruling in favor of the NFLPA regarding player grievances against the franchise.
Khan has kept seventh-year GM Dave Caldwell and third-year head coach Doug Marrone on board, despite the team’s struggles over the past two seasons, rather than opting for a full housecleaning. While this could point to the owner leaning toward giving the duo a full season to operate without Coughlin, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets Khan has long admired the Patriots’ way of doing business. This has led to weeks-long buzz of the Jags being interested in pairing Scott Pioli and Josh McDaniels together in a front office-sideline tandem.
McDaniels has caused rather notable chaos in Denver and Indianapolis, the latter instance coming when he spurned an agreement to become the Colts’ HC in 2018. But the Patriots OC has generated consistent interest for much of this decade. Despite his recent Colts decision, McDaniels took an interview with the Packers earlier this year. Pioli’s opportunity running a team did not go well, either, with he and the Chiefs parting ways after four seasons. The former Patriots exec resigned from his post as Falcons assistant GM in May, ending a five-year tenure. McDaniels and Pioli have not worked together since the 2008 season.
Tom Coughlin Does Not Intend To Retire
Shad Khan fired Tom Coughlin from his post as Jaguars executive vice president earlier Wednesday night, doing so after initially planning to remove him from the role at season’s end.
Coughlin does not intend to retire. His agent, Sandy Montag, told ESPN.com’s Chris Mortensen (Twitter link) “The only thing I would say is there is plenty of football left in Tom Coughlin.”
“As head of football operations for the Jaguars for the last three years I was responsible for all things related to football,” Coughlin said in a statement (Twitter link via Mortensen). “I take great pride in our accomplishments, especially in 2017. I’d like to thank Shad Khan for the opportunity to come back to Jacksonville, all the players and staff for their efforts and the fans here for their support.”
Coughlin took one season off, 2016, after his Giants tenure ended after 12 seasons. The Jaguars rehired him in January 2017. They went 10-6 and made an unexpected run to the AFC championship game in 2017 but have gone 10-20 over the past two seasons. The extensive grievances filed against the Jaguars during Coughlin’s tenure, and an arbitrator’s ruling in favor of the NFLPA on Monday, likely accelerated Coughlin’s departure.
The Jaguars’ head coach/de facto GM from 1995-2002, Coughlin went on to win two Super Bowls with the Giants. Coughlin, who briefly served in the NFL’s football operations department in between Giants and Jags stays, was a candidate for the head coach position Doug Marrone received but instead became the team’s executive VP. Coughlin initially hoped to coach in 2017 and may want to return to such a role, but at 73, he’s far older than any NFL HC ever hired.
Jaguars Fire Executive VP Tom Coughlin
The major changes in Jacksonville are starting. The Jaguars fired executive vice president Tom Coughlin on Wednesday night, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com reports (on Twitter). The team has announced the move.
Coughlin, 73, was in his third season with the franchise. This marked the two-time Super Bowl-winning coach’s second stint in Jacksonville. He was the Jags’ first head coach, serving in that role from 1995-2002.
This move comes, obviously, as the Jaguars are wrapping up a second consecutive disappointing season. It also follows Monday’s news of an arbitrator ruling against the Jaguars and the NFLPA indicating in a statement that 25% of player grievances over the past two years have been against the Jags. In the statement, which centered around the Coughlin-led organization levying offseason fines, the union urged players to avoid signing with the Jaguars as free agents.
Owner Shad Khan said in a statement he determined earlier this season he would fire Coughlin at year’s end but changed his mind after recent days. It would appear the grievance ruling accelerated this timetable. Khan added that GM Dave Caldwell and HC Doug Marrone will report directly to him for the time being.
“I determined earlier this fall that making this move at the conclusion of the 2019 season would be in everyone’s best interests but, in recent days, I reconsidered and decided to make this change immediately,” Khan said. “I thank Tom for all his efforts, not only over the past three years but for all he did from our very first season, 25 years ago, to put the Jacksonville Jaguars on the map.”
Khan hired Coughlin in January 2017, stripping some of Caldwell’s powers to bring the longtime Giants HC into the fold. After Caldwell’s first four years as GM did not produce any winning seasons, the Coughlin-Caldwell tandem installed Marrone as the team’s full-time HC. The Jaguars went 10-6 and came as close to reaching a Super Bowl as they had in their 25-year history, losing a lead late in the 2017 AFC championship game.
On the field, the Jaguars have gone 10-20 since. Off the field, matters have been worse. Players were fined hundreds of thousands of dollars during offseasons, with Dante Fowler and Leonard Fournette confirming they filed grievances against Coughlin. The old-school leader also was the driving force behind Jalen Ramsey‘s decision to request a trade earlier this season, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com notes players had become frustrated by Coughlin’s mere presence in the building (video link). While the disciplinarian adapted in New York, winning over the Giants and guiding them to two Super Bowls, Coughlin’s methods did not go over well with a younger crop of players in Jacksonville.
Marrone looks like a Black Monday candidate, and although Caldwell has managed to avoid ouster rumors, Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports notes (via Twitter) Jags coaches and scouts have inquired about other jobs for weeks. Quarterbacks coach Scott Milanovich landed another CFL head coaching job last week. Caldwell made the Blake Bortles draft pick in 2014 and, along with Coughlin, authorized a 2018 extension for the embattled quarterback. The Jaguars, who selected Fournette over Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes in Coughlin’s first draft, took a $16.5MM dead-money hit to cut Bortles this year. Neither Marrone nor Caldwell, however, are locks to be fired, Rapoport adds.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/18/19
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR Alex Wesley
Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
- Signed: DB Herb Miller
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: LB Joe Dineen, DE Dewayne Hendrix, RB Jeremy McNichols
Jaguars Waive Marcus Gilchrist
The Jaguars waived veteran safety Marcus Gilchrist, per a club announcement. To take his place, they promoted safety Doug Middleton from the practice squad. 
Gilchrist joined the Jags in late November and appeared in each of the team’s last three games. His Jacksonville stint ends with two tackles on 53 defensive snaps and 19 special teams plays. The 31-year-old has started in 98 games as a pro for the Chargers, Jets, Texans, and Raiders.
Middleton, meanwhile, has 12 total NFL games on his resume, including seven last year for the Jets. For his career, he has 28 tackles and four passes defensed.
NFL Practice Squad Updates: 12/17/19
We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:
Denver Broncos
- Signed: S P.J. Locke, DL Jay-Tee Tiuli
Detroit Lions
- Signed: LB Christian Sam, DT Olive Sagapolu
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Signed: DE Dewayne Hendrix, RB Jeremy McNichols
New York Giants
- Signed: OT Nate Wozniak
New York Jets
- Signed: WR Keon Hatcher
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: CB Kareem Orr
NFLPA Wins Grievance Against Jaguars
The NFL Players Association has won a grievance against the Jaguars and has released a rather scathing statement on the team’s policies, as Dan Graziano of ESPN.com tweets.
The entire statement from the union may be found at the Twitter link above, but essentially, the Jags (read: executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin) have recently required their players to get all offseason medical treatment at the team facility. When players failed to do so, they were disciplined by the club.
For instance, one player — whom Mark Long of the Associated Press identified as former Jaguar and current Ram Dante Fowler (Twitter link) — was fined 25 times for a total of $700K in 2018 for missing offseason appointments at Jacksonville headquarters. Fowler confirmed (via Twitter) that he was indeed the player referenced in the statement, and he said, “[the Jaguars] literally hated me.” All of the fines have now been rescinded.
An arbitrator found that, except in very limited circumstances, offseason activities of any kind are voluntary and a team cannot make them mandatory. The statement goes on to say that, in the last two years — Coughlin has served in his current post since 2017 — 25% of grievances filed by NFL players have been filed against the Jaguars.
This development obviously reflects poorly on the Jags, who are expected to make major organizational changes this offseason. That could include the departure of Coughlin, which may not be a bad thing as far as attracting free agents is concerned.