The Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching search has been nothing short of a mess, and it could be on the way to looking messier as a candidate is potentially taking his name out of the running. That candidate, according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, is Tampa Bay Bucs coordinator Byron Leftwich.
Hearing Bucs offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich is expected to remove himself from consideration for the Jaguars head coaching job soon. Former Raiders interim HC Rich Bisaccia and former Eagles coach Doug Pederson remain strong candidates.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) February 3, 2022
The Jags first interviewed Leftwich on Jan. 7 and interviewed him a second time on Jan. 25. His interviews seemingly went well, but both sides hit a snag because Leftwich wanted to bring in Adrian Wilson as his general manager and wasn’t a fan of working with current general manager Trent Baalke.
Baalke has been an issue during the whole process due to his poor reputation dating back to his time with the San Francisco 49ers. He’s survived three coaching changes, two of which came with the 49ers (Jim Harbaugh and Jim Tomsula) and survived the firing of Urban Meyer as well (at least for now). With that being the case, the reluctance to work with Baalke makes sense.
Leftwich and his camp have been waiting nine days since his last interview, so it appears they’ve been more than patient. That said, many fans will be heavily anticipating a statement and press conference from owner Shad Khan as the Jags camp has been completely silent on this puzzling search.
With Leftwich out, the Jags are down to Doug Pederson and Rich Bisaccia, according to Stroud. Both candidates interviewed this week, as did former Minnesota Vikings executive Rick Spielman for a job in the front office that will make him a high-ranking member of the organization.
