Let's not overstate how bad Caldwell is by calling him the 'worst in franchise history'. Not when we had Gene Smith as our General Manager.

Caldwell came into a team replete of talent, and in desperate need of a QB. Let's take a look at the QB's available (that were taken in the first three rounds) his first two years here:

2013:
E.J. Manuel - Not worth a first round pick. Currently a free agent if we really wanted him for some reason.
Geno Smith - Failure, and backup for the Chargers
Mike Glennon - Failure, backup for the Cardinals
Even beyond round 3, no QB's of note from this draft.

2014:
Johnny Manziel - Drunk who's not in the league anymore. To call him a failure would be an insult to the other failures.
Teddy Bridgewater - Had some good years, but currently nothing more than a backup for the Saints. Was let go by his drafting team already.
Derek Carr - Had some good years, but is now on the worst team in the NFL
Jimmy Garapoolo - The only one I'd say Dave potentially missed on.

Bortles has been a failure too, but he's won more playoff games than every other QB drafted in those years combined. (Which isn't saying much). Those were some bad years for QB's, and the Jags were in a desperate situation. Jimmy Garapoloo would've been the best choice, but who knows what he'd have become with Gus "Sprinkles" Bradley here.

With a better QB last year, I think we could've been in the Super Bowl. That's not something you could've said about any of the teams Gene Smith built. You couldn't even say "With a good QB we'd be in the playoffs" under Gene Smith.

Is it time to cut ties with Caldwell? Probably. Let someone come in and find a QB for us. But he wasn't as bad as Gene Smith was. Not even close. He never traded a future 2nd round pick for a 3rd rounder. His picks were mostly what you'd expect with a few exceptions, and there were some good picks in there. You can't say that about Gene. Not even close.

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