Opinion: Jaguars could get burned if they don’t soon lock up Byron Leftwich as coach
two of the Jaguars’ top candidates taking jobs elsewhere, it left one unavoidable question: how much longer is owner Shad Khan going to wait to pull the trigger on a coaching hire?
Unless there’s a bona fide mystery candidate who hasn’t been unveiled, like possibly a coach working in Sunday’s conference championship games, you have to wonder if Khan will pivot back to Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, who appears to be the most logical remaining candidate as the Jaguars’ next head coach.
Once Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett took the Denver Broncos job and Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus went to the Chicago Bears, that meant Leftwich was the only coach who interviewed twice with the Jaguars or scheduled to do so that was still not taken.
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A person familiar with the situation, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing search, told the USA TODAY Network that the Jaguars talked with former Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio on Monday, but there’s uncertainty about whether it was about the vacancy created by Urban Meyer’s firing or possibly as a defensive coordinator under the next head coach.
Meyer was fired on Dec. 16, it seemed only logical for Khan to start fresh after the season and go on a GM search, possibly before hiring a coach. That’s what the Minnesota Vikings and Bears did.
But he has stood by Baalke, the fired San Francisco 49ers GM who was not hired by any team for three years until former Jaguars GM Dave Caldwell hired him as director of player personnel in February, 2020. Baalke was promoted to GM when Caldwell got fired nine months later.
So as news revolving around the NFL coaching cycle seems to be changing now by the hour, there’s been no confirmation by the Jaguars that a hire of either Leftwich or Wilson or both would be imminent as of 12 noon Thursday.
Teflon Trent still sitting in the GM chair.
If the Jaguars don’t hire Byron Leftwich as their next head coach, then Khan better have an awfully impressive option that, at the moment, nobody sees coming.