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Have we been too harsh on Baalke?


Attempt at a chronological overview of Baalke through the lens of a semi-reasonable Jaguars fan:

  • Came to us with a bad track record, but began at director of player personnel under Caldwell
  • When promoted to GM, Jags fans had the track record to consider and initial concern understandably began, but so many were eager to be rid of Caldwell it wasn't widespread
  • Urban Mayer happened - and while many excuse Baalke of blame for this - I think he should have/probably could have done more to show Khan it was a bad idea. It's not his fault necessarily - but it was his job to inform on a better decision. 
  • 2021 free agency:  It was mostly bad.  Factor in Meyer all you want. Baalke is complicit. Several bad moves.
  • 2021 Draft:  Not so bad. Jury is still out, but may end up pretty good and a reason to have a glimmer of hope for the guy.
    • The twitter rumor mill stirred up a lot of stuff about Baalke's nature as a snake in the grass, bad-faith-negotiator, eager to throw colleagues under the bus for his own advantage. No idea how much of that is true or not. 

  • Pederson hire:  Kudos to Baalke/Khan on this one. Well done. I don't care about the weeks-long process and all of the ire it drew from fans. They got a good thing done. 
  • 2022 free agency: You can nitpick how much he directly helped Trevor or not, but he and Pederson clearly had a plan to build a run stuffing defense that covers well enough and can rush the passer better than before. They have done that on paper. They also managed to add what should be moderate help for Trevor. 
  • 2022 draft: Looks pretty good on paper to me. Questionable trade value will only haunt them if those picks don't pan out. Doubling down on ILB will draw criticism if other areas struggle - but could also turn out to be very helpful to the defense. Way too soon to know much on this bullet point. 

Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 
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(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Attempt at a chronological overview of Baalke through the lens of a semi-reasonable Jaguars fan:

  • Came to us with a bad track record, but began at director of player personnel under Caldwell Check
  • When promoted to GM, Jags fans had the track record to consider and initial concern understandably began, but so many were eager to be rid of Caldwell it wasn't widespread Check, I would add even those that were against him would at the end put in a "well he could do ok" remark to CYA.
  • Urban Mayer happened - and while many excuse Baalke of blame for this - I think he should have/probably could have done more to show Khan it was a bad idea. It's not his fault necessarily - but it was his job to inform on a better decision. As giddy as Kahn was about his hire I am not sure anything would stop that train.
  • 2021 free agency:  It was mostly bad.  Factor in Meyer all you want. Baalke is complicit. Several bad moves. Agreed, best thing that happened is we didn't blow all the cap space on Urban cronies.
  • 2021 Draft:  Not so bad. Jury is still out, but may end up pretty good and a reason to have a glimmer of hope for the guy.
    • The twitter rumor mill stirred up a lot of stuff about Baalke's nature as a snake in the grass, bad-faith-negotiator, eager to throw colleagues under the bus for his own advantage. No idea how much of that is true or not. Yea, his political squabble with Jim Harbaugh ended up with the owner siding with him. If Harbaugh had won that Baalkie would be out os a job as SF. He didn't so most of that is sour grapes from Harbaugh.  My guess is they both dug in their heels and forced a decision by the owner. Both at fault.

  • Pederson hire:  Kudos to Baalke/Khan on this one. Well done. I don't care about the weeks-long process and all of the ire it drew from fans. They got a good thing done. YES !
  • 2022 free agency: You can nitpick how much he directly helped Trevor or not, but he and Pederson clearly had a plan to build a run stuffing defense that covers well enough and can rush the passer better than before. They have done that on paper. They also managed to add what should be moderate help for Trevor.  I agree here. I am glad they got some receivers, we should be at the least average to maybe a bit above this year there. Why? well because last year all the fans had convinced themselves that was a area of strength on the team. Proving that without all the information and our extensive experience operating football teams we make bad takes.  At least this group is agile enough not to run into each other.
  • 2022 draft: Looks pretty good on paper to me. Questionable trade value will only haunt them if those picks don't pan out. Doubling down on ILB will draw criticism if other areas struggle - but could also turn out to be very helpful to the defense. Way too soon to know much on this bullet point. I believe this years defense will be much improved. They showed flashes of being really good last year. I felt they were inconsistent due to a lack of depth compounded by the ineffective offense. As for over paying some personnel, they earned the extra because they are risking their career by coming to a team that has been a mess for the last 10 years. The more the risk the bigger the reward has to be.

Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

Agreed ...good synopsis. Thanks

A new broom always sweeps clean.
Reply


(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

He was also 2nd in command for the disastrous 2020 Schobert FA period and Henderson/Chaisson drafts. Caldwell obviously gets the final blame for 2020, but I am sure Baalke had plenty of say too.
Reply


(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Attempt at a chronological overview of Baalke through the lens of a semi-reasonable Jaguars fan:

  • Came to us with a bad track record, but began at director of player personnel under Caldwell
  • When promoted to GM, Jags fans had the track record to consider and initial concern understandably began, but so many were eager to be rid of Caldwell it wasn't widespread
  • Urban Mayer happened - and while many excuse Baalke of blame for this - I think he should have/probably could have done more to show Khan it was a bad idea. It's not his fault necessarily - but it was his job to inform on a better decision. 
  • 2021 free agency:  It was mostly bad.  Factor in Meyer all you want. Baalke is complicit. Several bad moves.
  • 2021 Draft:  Not so bad. Jury is still out, but may end up pretty good and a reason to have a glimmer of hope for the guy.
    • The twitter rumor mill stirred up a lot of stuff about Baalke's nature as a snake in the grass, bad-faith-negotiator, eager to throw colleagues under the bus for his own advantage. No idea how much of that is true or not. 

  • Pederson hire:  Kudos to Baalke/Khan on this one. Well done. I don't care about the weeks-long process and all of the ire it drew from fans. They got a good thing done. 
  • 2022 free agency: You can nitpick how much he directly helped Trevor or not, but he and Pederson clearly had a plan to build a run stuffing defense that covers well enough and can rush the passer better than before. They have done that on paper. They also managed to add what should be moderate help for Trevor. 
  • 2022 draft: Looks pretty good on paper to me. Questionable trade value will only haunt them if those picks don't pan out. Doubling down on ILB will draw criticism if other areas struggle - but could also turn out to be very helpful to the defense. Way too soon to know much on this bullet point. 

Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

10/10

Mate fantastic review
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The dude reminds me of Super Dave Osborn. If he fails, we could make some funny memes.
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(This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 11:26 AM by homebiscuit.)

(05-29-2022, 03:24 PM)Upper Wrote:
(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

He was also 2nd in command for the disastrous 2020 Schobert FA period and Henderson/Chaisson drafts. Caldwell obviously gets the final blame for 2020, but I am sure Baalke had plenty of say too.

You would blame Baalke for the price of gas if you could. For some reason you have this unreasonable hate for a person you don't even know. So now he takes blame because he was standing next to the guy who made the decisions? 

The fact of the matter is we do not know the dynamics of the people in the front office or the weight of their opinions within the chain of command. For all we know Khan is dismissive of any opinion which conflicts with his own. Given the length of the Gus Bradley tenure and the fact Urban Meyer was hired says he most likely is. The same applies to Caldwell. We are not privy to the conversations and what was considered. This will be the year in order to form a definitive opinion of just how well Baalke is doing as GM.

(05-30-2022, 06:53 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: The dude reminds me of Super Dave Osborn. If he fails, we could make some funny memes.

Lol. Now that I think about it, he sounds just like him.
Reply


(05-30-2022, 11:24 AM)homebiscuit Wrote:
(05-29-2022, 03:24 PM)Upper Wrote: He was also 2nd in command for the disastrous 2020 Schobert FA period and Henderson/Chaisson drafts. Caldwell obviously gets the final blame for 2020, but I am sure Baalke had plenty of say too.

You would blame Baalke for the price of gas if you could. For some reason you have this unreasonable hate for a person you don't even know. So now he takes blame because he was standing next to the guy who made the decisions? 

The fact of the matter is we do not know the dynamics of the people in the front office or the weight of their opinions within the chain of command. For all we know Khan is dismissive of any opinion which conflicts with his own. Given the length of the Gus Bradley tenure and the fact Urban Meyer was hired says he most likely is. The same applies to Caldwell. We are not privy to the conversations and what was considered. This will be the year in order to form a definitive opinion of just how well Baalke is doing as GM.

(05-30-2022, 06:53 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: The dude reminds me of Super Dave Osborn. If he fails, we could make some funny memes.

Lol. Now that I think about it, he sounds just like him.

For the Utes that don't know who we're talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Qh3jaJp7Y
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(This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 12:54 PM by TheDuke007. Edited 1 time in total.)

(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Attempt at a chronological overview of Baalke through the lens of a semi-reasonable Jaguars fan:

  • Came to us with a bad track record, but began at director of player personnel under Caldwell
  • When promoted to GM, Jags fans had the track record to consider and initial concern understandably began, but so many were eager to be rid of Caldwell it wasn't widespread
  • Urban Mayer happened - and while many excuse Baalke of blame for this - I think he should have/probably could have done more to show Khan it was a bad idea. It's not his fault necessarily - but it was his job to inform on a better decision. 
  • 2021 free agency:  It was mostly bad.  Factor in Meyer all you want. Baalke is complicit. Several bad moves.
  • 2021 Draft:  Not so bad. Jury is still out, but may end up pretty good and a reason to have a glimmer of hope for the guy.
    • The twitter rumor mill stirred up a lot of stuff about Baalke's nature as a snake in the grass, bad-faith-negotiator, eager to throw colleagues under the bus for his own advantage. No idea how much of that is true or not. 

  • Pederson hire:  Kudos to Baalke/Khan on this one. Well done. I don't care about the weeks-long process and all of the ire it drew from fans. They got a good thing done. 
  • 2022 free agency: You can nitpick how much he directly helped Trevor or not, but he and Pederson clearly had a plan to build a run stuffing defense that covers well enough and can rush the passer better than before. They have done that on paper. They also managed to add what should be moderate help for Trevor. 
  • 2022 draft: Looks pretty good on paper to me. Questionable trade value will only haunt them if those picks don't pan out. Doubling down on ILB will draw criticism if other areas struggle - but could also turn out to be very helpful to the defense. Way too soon to know much on this bullet point. 

Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

That's a good attempt at being fair.  The one thing that you don't specifically mention that I consider highly relevant is the fact that his promotion came after one year with the team and that team went from 6-10 in the prior season to 1-15 under Baalke.  In his one year as Director of Player Personnel, the Jaguars drafted C.J. Henderson and Chaisson in the first round.  In what sane universe does this earn him a promotion?  

I will say that I am one that believes people sometimes learn from their mistakes and can get better at their jobs.  Hopefully, Baalke is one of those people.  However, it didn't make a lot of sense to give Baalke that opportunity when so many much more deserving and better qualified people were available.
Reply


(05-30-2022, 06:53 AM)Lucky2Last Wrote: The dude reminds me of Super Dave Osborn. If he fails, we could make some funny memes.

You earned cool points for the Super Dave Osborne reference!
 

Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!





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Via the decisions that he controls, Baalke has started out on the right (correct) foot. Up until this 2022 FA and draft he truly had no control w/respect to personnel decisions. I personally could tell that he has control now albeit he selected alot per Pederson's wish list. Especially within the first four picks. Baalke and his new assistant evaluator will be good for our team.

Time Will Tell.

NH3...
"AZANE"
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(This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 02:09 PM by iHaunting Raven.)

(05-30-2022, 01:56 PM)NH3 Wrote: Via the decisions that he controls, Baalke has started out on the right (correct) foot. Up until this 2022 FA and draft he truly had no control w/respect to personnel decisions. I personally could tell that he has control now albeit he selected alot per Pederson's wish list. Especially within the first four picks. Baalke and his new assistant evaluator will be good for our team.

Time Will Tell.

NH3...

Total BS.

Last year was all him, or mostly him since Meyer was clueless about the NFL. Last years FA was garbage when we had the money to get good FAs like Trent Williams, Hendrickson etc.
"Treyvon Wallet is elite run defender and better overall than Aidan Hutchinson" 11/11/23
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(This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 04:18 PM by Predator. Edited 1 time in total.)

(05-30-2022, 12:53 PM)TheDuke007 Wrote:
(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Attempt at a chronological overview of Baalke through the lens of a semi-reasonable Jaguars fan:

  • Came to us with a bad track record, but began at director of player personnel under Caldwell
  • When promoted to GM, Jags fans had the track record to consider and initial concern understandably began, but so many were eager to be rid of Caldwell it wasn't widespread
  • Urban Mayer happened - and while many excuse Baalke of blame for this - I think he should have/probably could have done more to show Khan it was a bad idea. It's not his fault necessarily - but it was his job to inform on a better decision. 
  • 2021 free agency:  It was mostly bad.  Factor in Meyer all you want. Baalke is complicit. Several bad moves.
  • 2021 Draft:  Not so bad. Jury is still out, but may end up pretty good and a reason to have a glimmer of hope for the guy.
    • The twitter rumor mill stirred up a lot of stuff about Baalke's nature as a snake in the grass, bad-faith-negotiator, eager to throw colleagues under the bus for his own advantage. No idea how much of that is true or not. 

  • Pederson hire:  Kudos to Baalke/Khan on this one. Well done. I don't care about the weeks-long process and all of the ire it drew from fans. They got a good thing done. 
  • 2022 free agency: You can nitpick how much he directly helped Trevor or not, but he and Pederson clearly had a plan to build a run stuffing defense that covers well enough and can rush the passer better than before. They have done that on paper. They also managed to add what should be moderate help for Trevor. 
  • 2022 draft: Looks pretty good on paper to me. Questionable trade value will only haunt them if those picks don't pan out. Doubling down on ILB will draw criticism if other areas struggle - but could also turn out to be very helpful to the defense. Way too soon to know much on this bullet point. 

Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

That's a good attempt at being fair.  The one thing that you don't specifically mention that I consider highly relevant is the fact that his promotion came after one year with the team and that team went from 6-10 in the prior season to 1-15 under Baalke.  In his one year as Director of Player Personnel, the Jaguars drafted C.J. Henderson and Chaisson in the first round.  In what sane universe does this earn him a promotion?  

I will say that I am one that believes people sometimes learn from their mistakes and can get better at their jobs.  Hopefully, Baalke is one of those people.  However, it didn't make a lot of sense to give Baalke that opportunity when so many much more deserving and better qualified people were available.

Director of Player Personnel doesn't deal with drafting players. He is over NFL scouting and negotiates the contracts for the GM.

He may have some say in free agency, but the final decisions are made by the GM and then it's his job to ink the deal.
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(This post was last modified: 05-30-2022, 06:27 PM by JagsFanSince95. Edited 3 times in total.)

(05-29-2022, 03:24 PM)Upper Wrote:
(05-29-2022, 11:41 AM)NYC4jags Wrote: Synopsis: Since arriving in Jax - He's done some bad things, he's done some good things. As tough as it is to wait it out, 2023 is probably when we will have a good grasp on which outweighs the other. 

He was also 2nd in command for the disastrous 2020 Schobert FA period and Henderson/Chaisson drafts. Caldwell obviously gets the final blame for 2020, but I am sure Baalke had plenty of say too.

Those picks reek of the need style drafting we know Caldwell for. He wasn’t the worst gm we’ve had(hard to beat Gene Smith), but his need picks he made were pretty annoying throughout his tenure, especially since he gutted the roster in 2012 and refused to go BAP.
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(05-30-2022, 11:24 AM)homebiscuit Wrote:
(05-29-2022, 03:24 PM)Upper Wrote: He was also 2nd in command for the disastrous 2020 Schobert FA period and Henderson/Chaisson drafts. Caldwell obviously gets the final blame for 2020, but I am sure Baalke had plenty of say too.

You would blame Baalke for the price of gas if you could. For some reason you have this unreasonable hate for a person you don't even know. So now he takes blame because he was standing next to the guy who made the decisions? 

The fact of the matter is we do not know the dynamics of the people in the front office or the weight of their opinions within the chain of command.

I am simply not someone who is willing to twist myself into a pretzel to try to massage my biases, as you clearly are. You laid yourself bare defending Urban Meyer right until the end even after a mountain of evidence that he was an unmitigated disaster, hence the homerbiscuit moniker. I just can't do that (although to be honest I am sometimes jealous of people who are able to). Baalke has a long track record that is damn near as bad as it gets from multiple angles. Until he proves otherwise that is what Baalke is, he is not to be given the benefit of the doubt until he earns it. And trust me, I hope he earns it.
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(05-30-2022, 10:51 PM)Upper Wrote:
(05-30-2022, 11:24 AM)homebiscuit Wrote: You would blame Baalke for the price of gas if you could. For some reason you have this unreasonable hate for a person you don't even know. So now he takes blame because he was standing next to the guy who made the decisions? 

The fact of the matter is we do not know the dynamics of the people in the front office or the weight of their opinions within the chain of command.

I am simply not someone who is willing to twist myself into a pretzel to try to massage my biases, as you clearly are. You laid yourself bare defending Urban Meyer right until the end even after a mountain of evidence that he was an unmitigated disaster, hence the homerbiscuit moniker. I just can't do that (although to be honest I am sometimes jealous of people who are able to). Baalke has a long track record that is damn near as bad as it gets from multiple angles. Until he proves otherwise that is what Baalke is, he is not to be given the benefit of the doubt until he earns it. And trust me, I hope he earns it.

But I had no biases. I will take the same wait and see stance as I did with Meyer, what you call homer defense. All I said was give the guy a chance. In the end I admitted I was wrong. 
You make these incredible reaches with Baalke to try and justify your unreasonable hate for the guy, but at least I’m glad you at least are willing to wait and see.
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(05-28-2022, 12:09 PM)TheDuke007 Wrote:
(05-28-2022, 12:51 AM)NH3 Wrote: I've been on board Day One w/respect to Baalke. View my past opinions of his decision makings. In 2021 he made personnel decisions that represented Meyer's philosophy. TL16 and ETN was a shoe-in I might add. In 2022 he made personnel decisions that represented Peterson's philosophy, Thank the Lord above. 

Along/w him bringing in an assistant GM to help evaluate roster talent, Baalke is deserving of respect. That CLOWNING [BLEEP] has to stop. Pull the plug. About Face and get The Hell On. It's disrespectful. I've said it before and I'll say it again Baalke deserves respect until proves that he doesn't. So far he hasn't proven that he doesn't.

Time Will Tell.

NH3...

As general manager in San Francisco, his team's records went as follows:

Season 1:  13-3
Season 2:  11-4-1
Season 3:  12-4
Season 4:  8-8
Season 5:  5-11
Season 6:  2-14

Are you unable to see the trend?

As for Jacksonville, the team's record is 4-29 since he's been here.  You can make excuses that he wasn't the final decision maker, but if nothing else, as Director of Player Personnel and General Manager, his job was to advise.  Obviously, his advice didn't do much good if we went 4-29.  Baalke has done nothing to deserve respect.

...if you do some reading up on Jed York, you'll find that the finger starts to point in several directions. He was just as public in his criticism of Harbs, compared replacing him with Jim Tomsula as equivalent to the Warriors' hire of Steve Kerr, and has proven impatient and meddlesome since.

Maybe Baalke just knows to play to his audience? In which direction would you say the team's arrow points, presently?
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It is the owner. Patient to a fault. Believes thought leaders can change the direction of your woes. Sets up targets around him to take the fall.

He got played by 2017 and has yet to act like an owner when it comes to the product on the field. The stadium work and other projects are fantastic all things considered but the football operations are his fault.

We will see what happens next.
The Khan Years

Patience, Persistence, and Piss Poor General Managers.
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(05-31-2022, 09:30 AM)MoJagFan Wrote: It is the owner. Patient to a fault. Believes thought leaders can change the direction of your woes. Sets up targets around him to take the fall.

He got played by 2017 and has yet to act like an owner when it comes to the product on the field. The stadium work and other projects are fantastic all things considered but the football operations are his fault.

We will see what happens next.

Reports are that Khan was all in on Meyer. We don't know what degree Baalke was complicit. He may have tried to talk Khan out of the hire and that's why he's trusted now. 

Khan did at least "act like an owner" by firing Meyer (with cause) in season and now refusing to pay him any additional funds.
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(05-31-2022, 09:50 AM)NYC4jags Wrote:
(05-31-2022, 09:30 AM)MoJagFan Wrote: It is the owner. Patient to a fault. Believes thought leaders can change the direction of your woes. Sets up targets around him to take the fall.

He got played by 2017 and has yet to act like an owner when it comes to the product on the field. The stadium work and other projects are fantastic all things considered but the football operations are his fault.

We will see what happens next.

Reports are that Khan was all in on Meyer. We don't know what degree Baalke was complicit. He may have tried to talk Khan out of the hire and that's why he's trusted now. 

Khan did at least "act like an owner" by firing Meyer (with cause) in season and now refusing to pay him any additional funds.

This is what gave me hope that maybe the light is coming on for Khan. It’s not easy for a successful man to so publicly admit he was wrong.

I also wonder how much input he was getting from his son. I would be shocked if Tony didn’t tell him that Meyer is a disaster and should be ditched. Methinks Shad has gained some respect for Tony’s opinions given the meteoritic popularity of AEW.
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Love how our GMs never choose our HCs, don't make the draft picks, don't make the FA signings etc, it is always someone else's fault  Laughing
"Treyvon Wallet is elite run defender and better overall than Aidan Hutchinson" 11/11/23
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