Jacksonville Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan revealed on Monday a rough timeline for the team when it comes to finding their next general manager.
During Liam Coen’s introductory press conference, Khan was asked what the time frame looks like when it comes to the Jaguars filling that front office role and if there was a specific date he had in mind.
“I think that date is February 28th,” said Khan. “I believe that’s the NFL mandated. I think our priority is obviously to get Liam settled in and have him build his staff and then start the search. But we’re hoping to be done by that date.”
Reports and rumors about Coen filling out his staff have just started to trickle in over the last few days.
What we know right now with certainty is that the Jaguars are interviewing Minnesota Vikings defensive passing game coordinator Daronte Jones for the team’s defensive coordinator opening.
There have also been rumblings that the Jaguars are among teams with “interest” in Chip Kelly for the offensive coordinator role. Another name to watch when it comes to offensive coordinator, according to The Athletic, is Grant Udinski, who has worked under Vikings’ head coach Kevin O’Connell the last few seasons.
As of now, and it makes sense given the timeline Khan mentioned, there hasn’t been any reported names connected to the Jaguars when it comes to the general manager opening.
I did, however, explore one potential candidate recently.
Neither Khan nor Coen confirmed this, but NFL insider Jordan Schultz did report that Coen will have a “real say” in who the next general manager is.
When speaking with the media on Monday, Coen noted the importance of alignment between the head coach and the front office.
In order to get to this point where the GM job is available, Khan had to part ways with Trent Baalke during the head coaching search. Coen said that this move had nothing to do with his decision to re-explore the opportunity and Khan said the decision to let Baalke go was what he thought was best for the organization after reflecting following the first round of interviews.
“After the 10 video interviews were done, that was a transition point for me to reflect and what was the right thing for the organization and that’s when I decided it was time for a change,” Khan said.
