When taking a look at the struggles that the Jacksonville Jaguars have had, they should do a greater job of getting the correct people of their front office. The duty of fixing the present-day Jaguars will fall on Trent Baalke, who will be the most scrutinized general manager within the NFL.
While Jags fans have warmed as much as him, it was removed from that way early this offseason. Fans wanted him gone alongside former coach Urban Meyer because Baalke hasn’t been one of the best at seeing eye-to-eye with the coaches he’s been paired with. Moreover, he hasn’t been good at making draft selections, especially with skill positions.
The problems which were related to Baalke for years have many outside of Jacksonville doubtful that he’s the reply. Pro Football Network also isn’t high on him and people under him, and consequently, they ranked the Jags’ front office twenty sixth within the NFL in a recent article.
Here’s what analyst Dallas Robinson needed to say in regards to the Jags’ front office, which spent a league-record sum of money when it comes to guarantees:
General manager: Trent Baalke
Having in some way retained his job in Jacksonville, Baalke set about lighting money on fire in free agency. The Jaguars gave Christian Kirk an absurd $18 million per 12 months, but deals for Brandon Scherff ($16.5 million), Foyesade Oluokun ($15 million), Folorunso Fatukasi ($10 million), and Zay Jones ($8 million) were nearly as egregious. Trevor Lawerence and Doug Pederson can have to drag this franchise out of the abyss.
While Baalke is removed from an ideal general manager, it’s no secret that a team within the Jags’ shoes has to overpay in free agency to get players to want to affix them. After a disastrous run under Urban Meyer, which was out of Baalke’s power, that was precisely the case this 12 months.
As for the deals mentioned above, it will probably’t be stressed enough that Christian Kirk’s deal isn’t as backbreaking as some make it seem. The guaranteed amount on the contract is $37 million, which will probably be paid out in the primary two years (with slightly extra). So principally, fans should have a look at it as a two-year deal if he doesn’t pan out, but when he does, there will probably be no harm done.
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Kirk’s ability shouldn’t be underestimated, either. He thoroughly might be a 1,000-yard receiver when considering he’s not fighting for targets with players like DeAndre Hopkins and A.J. Green. To be fair, he fell just in need of doing it last season (982 yards) with each players playing in a combined total of 16 games.
Like Kirk’s deal, quite a lot of the opposite deals mentioned above don’t hurt the Jags long-term, either.
As for the front office, it seems Robinson based his rating on how he felt in regards to the Jags’ decisions as of late. From the surface looking in, they won’t wow anyone when taking a look at the names they picked up, but that doesn’t mean they won’t pan out and make many individuals eventually respect them.
While the Jags paid quite a lot of money to players who aren’t necessarily Pro Bowlers, they got quite a lot of defensive players who could help them higher compete against the offenses of their division, which is one where the run game is emphasized. That said, they may have a low-key free agency class that shines ultimately and one that may help them improve their AFC South record by a noticeable amount.
