My expectations simple competitive football after a 6 year freaking rebuild. The fact that we are still getting blown out is why I want Caldwell gone, I don’t see why that’s confusing.

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Caldwell has had years of high draft picks and an almost open checkbook salary cap.  This roster is still incomplete.  Caldwell's franchise QB was a massive failure.  That should of gotten him fired then.  After 6 years of building there is still massive holes on this team.  This overpriced defense remains inconsistent.   Khan hired Daddy Coughlin to come in and hold his hand and results show that Coughlin maybe over the hill.  It's unfortunate Foles got hurt but they knew he has never completed a season before they payed him.  There was 0 insurance policy behind Foles.  We are counting on a 6th round rookie because this front office failed to secure a security blanket.  They then panic and trade for Dobbs wasting another draft pick in 2 years just like Hyde last year.

The coaching staff seems to have little control and it spills out on the field. Stupid penalties continue to plague this team.  It's a reflection of the coaching staff hand pick by this front office.

They will get their chance to prove it this year but if this year ends in another mediocre year you have to ask how many excuses you can make for these guys.   If this season is a failure it is hard not to argue rebuilding the front office from the ground up is not a bad move at all.  Starting with Dave and Coughlin's removal.   To be continued....

1.  The years of high draft picks weren't all his fault.  He inherited a roster completely devoid of talent, coming off five straight losing seasons, with maybe 2 players drafted from the Gene Smith era who got second deals (one of whom, amazingly, was Alualu).  Considering this, how could there be lots of cap space eaten up?

2.  The overwhelming majority of rosters in the league are incomplete.  The team that just beat us, the Chiefs, were in the AFC championship game last year and were an off sides penalty from reaching the Super Bowl.  They were at the bottom in defense last year and aren't much better now.  The team that was the runner up in the Super bowl last year, the LA Rams, have questions in the offensive line. 

3.  The overpriced and inconsistent defense?!?  You mean the defense that has finished in the top 6 three years running?  When have they been inconsistent?  They've had bad games the past few years against Pittsburgh in the playoffs (they still won, by the way, and made several big plays in that game), the first game against Indy last year-a team with a good to great offensive line and a good to great QB.  Correction, they had a bad first half against them, shut them out in the second half, then proceeded to shut them out completely in the rematch, without the benefit of help from the offense.  They had a collapse against Tennessee on a Thursday night game when Derrick Henry ran all over them.  Dallas beat them pretty bad (a team that many consider to be a Super bowl contender in the NFC with one of the best OLs, RBs, and receivers in football), and KC, who may have one of the best offenses in the last twenty years.  Overpriced?  How?  Three of the highest paid players on that side of the ball are Calais Campbell (defensive player of the year award winner). A.J. Bouye (Pro Bowler), and Marcell Dareus (former pro bowler who restructured his deal.  Two of the team's best defenders, Jalen Ramsey and Yannick Ngakoue, are still on their rookie deals and most consider them underpaid in comparison to others in the league. 

4.  Yes, they could have used a more experienced backup for Foles.  But it isn't as if they have never had experienced backups under Caldwell.  They had Henne for years before going with Kessler last year.

5.  Are you seriously complaining about 5th round picks?  Yes, I know they can turn into good players...like Telvin Smith-a guy (Pro Bowler) that Caldwell drafted.  But given the need, and that they already acquired an extra 6th next year, I think they can manage that part of the draft.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

1. He brought in the coaches that blew the AFCCG, but he also brought in the coaches that got us there in the first place.  

2. I don't see how you tie Posluszny's retirement to FO arrogance.  First, Poz had been in the league some ten years at a very physically demanding position.  He knew when he had enough.  When he retired, he didn't try to sign elsewhere.  He said he couldn't play at a high enough level any more.  Furthermore, Caldwell had just drafted Jack in 2016.  After Bradley had him languishing n the bench in Jack's rookie year, the team had to get Jack some playing time.  Not only was Jack not well suited at SAM, either he was going to continue to languish on the bench on most downs, but if he got playing time in nickel, it was going to be at Poz's expense.  Telvin Smith was too athletic and made too many plays to take him out.

3. I disagreed with the Bortles extension, though I understood the rationale behind it.  But when that decision was made, TC was his new superior.  In plenty of interviews on the subject, TC was emphatic in his arguments defending the Bortles extension.  While Bortles was Caldwell's pick, it's possible (I don't know for sure) that TC was the driving force behind the Bortles extension.

4. Last year's collapse was unfortunate and ultimately attributable mostly to the injuries along the offensive line.  Everything points to that.  Not sure what Caldwell could have done to prevent the team being down 4 out of 5 starting OLs and being down to the 4th LT (who was a RT on another team at the start of the season) by season's end.

1. The 2017 defense had Pro Bowl quality starters at every position. One could argue that a better DC than Wash could have made the 2017 Jags defense into the all-time greatest. We're still suck with the Gus-style defense. Still, the worst coaching in the AFCCG was on the offensive side in the 4th quarter.

2. Agree. While the Jags may have encouraged the decision, the retirement was Poz's choice. There's no indication that the Jags could have kept him if they wanted to.

3. Let me add that the Jags did NOT invoke the 5th year clause for Bortles. At the beginning of 2017 they were not convinced he would ever become a franchise QB. Bortles play in December 2017 and January 2018 was as good as just about any QB in the NFL at the time, yet based on the relatively low salary and escape structure after two years I doubt the Jags were 100% sold on Bortles even then. And the Fournette pick was blatantly Coughlin's, although I'd guess that the Jags wouldn't have picked a QB in any case.

4. Exactly. Wells was a solid backup. Shatley was a solid backup. That's two good backups who together cover all five positions on the OL in case of injury. You can't expect the 7th - 10th backups to be any more than development guys, and Marrone (a former highly-regarded OL coach) would have the most say on the bottom of the roster.

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"Why should I give information to you when all you want to do is find something wrong with it?"

My expectations simple competitive football after a 6 year freaking rebuild. The fact that we are still getting blown out is why I want Caldwell gone, I don’t see why that’s confusing.

This team was within 10 points, mid way through the 3rd quarter, with us at their 26 yard line and driving before Fournette fumbled the ball..

Even with the Defense playing the worst game they've ever played, this team was still hanging with a Superbowl favorite and the best Offense in the league..

That was with a rookie back up 6th round QB who has zero reps with the starters. A 3rd LT making his first start, who hasn't even played LT since high school and 2 back up LBs for a good majority of the game..

I really don't see what's confusing about that..

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They've horribly missed on the QB position since Caldwell took the job and that's more than a firing offense.  That's a long with multiple first round busts.

I think Marrone is a totally regular NFL HC and easily replaced. But I don't think you can ever judge how good someone is with the disastrous QB room he's had to work with and win with since making his debut as NFL HC

To me, this is Caldwell's biggest demerit.

Even with the horrible Bradley hire, had he hit on Bortles, or more importantly drafted Watson or Mahomes instead of Fournette (and that may well have been TC's doing, not his), I don't think more than a small handful of people are calling for his ouster.

If this roster had Watson/Mahomes or even Lamar we'd be talking about it as a perennial division winner. Hell, even Derek Carr would have had us significantly more competitive over the course of his deal. 

You just can't keep missing at the position and keep your job. And idc if that's Caldwell or Coughlin, both have failed miserably

And

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To me, this is Caldwell's biggest demerit.

Even with the horrible Bradley hire, had he hit on Bortles, or more importantly drafted Watson or Mahomes instead of Fournette (and that may well have been TC's doing, not his), I don't think more than a small handful of people are calling for his ouster.

If this roster had Watson/Mahomes or even Lamar we'd be talking about it as a perennial division winner. Hell, even Derek Carr would have had us significantly more competitive over the course of his deal. 

You just can't keep missing at the position and keep your job. And idc if that's Caldwell or Coughlin, both have failed miserably

And

How did he keep missing though? He took one shot at drafting a QB high.. It didn't pan out. You really can't count a bunch of 6th round QBs as trying and trying at the position.

But with that said, what if Minshew becomes the man, plays great and is the future of this franchise moving forward. How would that change things in your guy's eyes about Caldwell and him taking QBs..

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If this roster had Watson/Mahomes or even Lamar we'd be talking about it as a perennial division winner. Hell, even Derek Carr would have had us significantly more competitive over the course of his deal. 

You just can't keep missing at the position and keep your job. And idc if that's Caldwell or Coughlin, both have failed miserably

And

How did he keep missing though? He took one shot at drafting a QB high.. It didn't pan out. You really can't count a bunch of 6th round QBs as trying and trying at the position.

But with that said, what if Minshew becomes the man, plays great and is the future of this franchise moving forward. How would that change things in your guy's eyes about Caldwell and him taking QBs..

Because he had multiple chances to take new QBs and missed on them all. Not taking a QB when you badly need one is a miss. 

Their big solution to all of this was an injury prone and inconsistent big money QB, and low and behold he doesn't last 12 snaps. 

If Minshew becomes a consistent franchise QB I'd be more than happy albeit would have questions about why it took 6 years to get there.

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We took a chance in hiring what the team believed was a young, up and coming Dave Caldwell as a GM when Shad Kahn purchased the team. In my opinion he has done a below average job. By gutting the team of any semblance of NFL talent he’s given salary cap with more money than virtually any other team in the NFL to spend on available free agents from the rest of the league. His most egregious shortcoming has been his first round draft evaluations. This guy has picked Luke Joekel, Blake Bortles and Dante Fowler Jr. with top 3 overall selections in the draft.  Please read the previous sentence again and let that sink in. That means that he was looking at basically the entire pool of draft eligible players and based on his evaluation criteria that they were the best prospects out there. That track record tells me that he just is over his head as a general manager.

(Emphasis added)

Gutting talent from a 2-14 team?!?

Come on, you're better than that Bullseye.

Just because the team was 2-14 doesn't mean there wasn't some talent there. The offense was horrendous overall, but the defense had a lot of NFL-caliber talent (not SB-winning talent, but at least mediocrity). Caldwell took care of that though (and somehow managed to carve out a legacy as the man who, through no fault of his own, inherited a roster worse than Matt Millen's Lions, apparently.).

With all credit to the ever-reliable wikipedia, the "Notable Departures" from 2012 - 2013 (with my edits removing the worthwhile losses, like Guy Whimper... ):

• S Dawan Landry, released on March 8, 2013.
  
• RB Rashad Jennings, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• FB Greg Jones, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• DT Terrance Knighton, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• CB Rashean Mathis, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• LB Daryl Smith, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• DT C. J. Mosley, released on April 1, 2013.
  
• RB/FB Montell Owens, released on May 16, 2013
  
• FS Dwight Lowery, released from injured reserve on November 4, 2013.
  
• DE Jeremy Mincey, released on December 13, 2013.
  

Remember, Caldwell made little to no effort to re-sign most of those "declared free agents," so these weren't cases where Caldwell got outbid or anything.  


The notable acquisitions he picked up to replace all the above and fill out his competitive NFL-ready roster (again, list from Wikipedia, though this time copied in its entirety):

• LB Geno Hayes, signed on March 13, 2013.
  
• DT Roy Miller, signed on March 15, 2013.
  
• RB Justin Forsett, signed on March 15, 2013.
  
• CB Alan Ball, signed on March 15, 2013.
  
• DT Sen'Derrick Marks, signed on April 2, 2013.
  
• DT Brandon Deaderick, claimed off waivers on May 14, 2013.
  
• CB Will Blackmon, signed on August 28, 2013.
  
• WR Stephen Burton, claimed off waivers on September 1, 2013.
  
• SS Winston Guy, claimed off waivers on September 1, 2013.
  
• TE Clay Harbor, claimed off waivers on September 1, 2013.
  

And, for completeness purposes, his draft that year:

1. Luke Joeckel
2. Jonathan Cyprien
3. Dwayne Gratz
4. Ace Sanders
5. Denard Robinson
6. Josh Evans
7. Jeremy Harris
8. Demetrius McCray

He did sign Abry Jones, Carson Tinker, and to a lesser extent LaRoy Reynolds as UDFAs though.

But he also traded Eugene Monroe during the season.

Did he inherit a SB-ready team? Obviously not; don't misconstrue my argument. But I tend to agree with JagsFan06 that Caldwell removed almost every bit of mediocre NFL play from the Jags in his first off-season and generally replaced the talent with below-average talent, while stockpiling cap room. Yet now, for some reason, despite not actually winning anything, other than one year in the playoffs, Caldwell gets to reap the rewards of taking that 2013 team and turning it into the competitor that we saw in 2017, as though he had no hand in causing the 2013-and-on mess.  

Caldwell chose not to pay for talent in his first years so he could play with house money for years, making big free agent splash after big free agent splash in the years after. Now that he has expectations to win, but doesn't have the endless cap room, I think you're seeing more people get frustrated with some of the moves that he used to be able to mask by just throwing the bank at a top-tier free agent. I think some of the complaints he's getting are fair (the 5th rounder for Hyde last year, given the team's refusal to use him after, being one, and now trading another 5th round draft pick this year--except this time for a 3rd string QB being a bigger example, in my opinion), though, obviously, others are not ("He should have told the coaches to coach better during the AFCCG.").

All that said, I lay most of the blame for this team on Marrone and his staff. But I am getting increasingly uneasy with the way Caldwell's managing the team with the depleted checkbook...

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"The season's not over... we still have a bunch of games to lose..." - TemporaryName

 


"The middle of the field is like Narnia to us, we don't believe it really exists" - Marvsin


 

How did he keep missing though? He took one shot at drafting a QB high.. It didn't pan out. You really can't count a bunch of 6th round QBs as trying and trying at the position.

But with that said, what if Minshew becomes the man, plays great and is the future of this franchise moving forward. How would that change things in your guy's eyes about Caldwell and him taking QBs..

Because he had multiple chances to take new QBs and missed on them all. Not taking a QB when you badly need one is a miss. 

Their big solution to all of this was an injury prone and inconsistent big money QB, and low and behold he doesn't last 12 snaps. 

If Minshew becomes a consistent franchise QB I'd be more than happy albeit would have questions about why it took 6 years to get there.

Yea so did over half of the league. Hindsight is always 20/20. Every team is constantly passing up players at every position, yet 2-3 years later it's brought up... Why did those QBs last 12-15 picks if they were a sure thing... Oh yea, because they weren't.

So it's Caldwell's fault for signing dog [BLEEP] Foles? Honestly this team has only gotten worse since Coughlin was brought into the picture.

Only 6 years to get here? Why you acting like good QBs grow on trees... There's a reason why 2/3's of the league is still looking/wanting upgrades at QB... Yet you're acting like this team spent multiple 1st round picks on QBs in the last 6 years..

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Because he had multiple chances to take new QBs and missed on them all. Not taking a QB when you badly need one is a miss. 

Their big solution to all of this was an injury prone and inconsistent big money QB, and low and behold he doesn't last 12 snaps. 

If Minshew becomes a consistent franchise QB I'd be more than happy albeit would have questions about why it took 6 years to get there.

Yea so did over half of the league. Hindsight is always 20/20. Every team is constantly passing up players at every position, yet 2-3 years later it's brought up... Why did those QBs last 12-15 picks if they were a sure thing... Oh yea, because they weren't.

So it's Caldwell's fault for signing dog [BLEEP] Foles? Honestly this team has only gotten worse since Coughlin was brought into the picture.

Only 6 years to get here? Why you acting like good QBs grow on trees... There's a reason why 2/3's of the league is still looking/wanting upgrades at QB... Yet you're acting like this team spent multiple 1st round picks on QBs in the last 6 years..

But it isn't hindsight analysis to say they should have taken Watson or Mahomes. They were very good prospects and the Jags needed a QB. Same in 2017 although not to the same degree with Lamar at all (and he still has more to prove of course)

Why are you giving this organisation a pass for being in year 6 without a franchise QB on the roster? If you want to seperate the Caldwell era and Coughlin era that's fine too but both eras have completely missed on fixing the QB spot so far. 

This is an organisation that's never drafted a good franchise QB in its 25 year history. Please stop giving them a pass on failing massively at the most important position in the sport for most of their existence through awful moves and missed evaluations.

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A bit too early. Considering the lack of playing time and week 1 being the startup for the team, I'll see what happens this week. I don't think we have developed much on the offensive side of the ball. Fournette has Coughlin's fingerprints on it and it will probably pan out to be the wrong decision but... they were sticking to a flawed build plan. If the team had a better split on hits between offense and defense, we would see more of a 8-8 mark and the team being poised to remain competitive. We have been up and down (mostly down).

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The Khan Years

Patience, Persistence, and Piss Poor General Managers.

I have pretty simple expectations. I can look at what Dave has been handed. That is more high draft picks and, by far, more FA $ spent than any other GM in NFL history.

In return he has given us all but one losing season, and currently the probable worst team in the division. But by all means let's see if the 8th time is the charm next year!

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Hiring Coughlin and doubling down on Bortles. The two worst moves this team has made in the past 5 years.

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My expectations simple competitive football after a 6 year freaking rebuild. The fact that we are still getting blown out is why I want Caldwell gone, I don’t see why that’s confusing.

This team was within 10 points, mid way through the 3rd quarter, with us at their 26 yard line and driving before Fournette fumbled the ball..

Even with the Defense playing the worst game they've ever played, this team was still hanging with a Superbowl favorite and the best Offense in the league..

That was with a rookie back up 6th round QB who has zero reps with the starters. A 3rd LT making his first start, who hasn't even played LT since high school and 2 back up LBs for a good majority of the game..

I really don't see what's confusing about that..

The defense played that bad all last year don’t pretend it was just the chiefs that moved the ball at will. We’ve spent high draft picks all over the defense and signed major free agents for big money over the last 5 years and it’s still a crap shoot if they show up to play week to week.  

We’ve completely ignored the offensive side of the ball even though it’s painfully obvious the game is tillted towards the offense. 

Make whatever excuse you want but the facts are simple we are 7 years into Caldwell’s roster, 3 years from when it was “built” and we just got old school whipped last week after a dumpster fire of a season last year.

We have no depth across the board even Caldwell apologist admit that. Our starting lineup has a ton of names we all know but they haven’t done anything and there’s nothing pointing to success in the future except hopes and dreams.

We came into this season with the belief that Foles was signed to fix the offense and the defense would return to form. Instead we lost Foles in the first half and the defense is more worried about show boating then actually playing any kind of intelligent football. That’s the character problem on this team Caldwell’s drafted a roster of me first toolbags that can’t function as a unit. It’s as if Ramsey’s nonsense has spread to the rest of the defense. Now we be Telvin Smith sitting out, Myles Jack getting ejected and Harrison right behind begging to be next. 


I love my team I hate half this roster

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Caldwell has had years of high draft picks and an almost open checkbook salary cap.  This roster is still incomplete.  Caldwell's franchise QB was a massive failure.  That should of gotten him fired then.  After 6 years of building there is still massive holes on this team.  This overpriced defense remains inconsistent.   Khan hired Daddy Coughlin to come in and hold his hand and results show that Coughlin maybe over the hill.  It's unfortunate Foles got hurt but they knew he has never completed a season before they payed him.  There was 0 insurance policy behind Foles.  We are counting on a 6th round rookie because this front office failed to secure a security blanket.  They then panic and trade for Dobbs wasting another draft pick in 2 years just like Hyde last year.

The coaching staff seems to have little control and it spills out on the field. Stupid penalties continue to plague this team.  It's a reflection of the coaching staff hand pick by this front office.

They will get their chance to prove it this year but if this year ends in another mediocre year you have to ask how many excuses you can make for these guys.   If this season is a failure it is hard not to argue rebuilding the front office from the ground up is not a bad move at all.  Starting with Dave and Coughlin's removal.   To be continued....

1.  The years of high draft picks weren't all his fault.  He inherited a roster completely devoid of talent, coming off five straight losing seasons, with maybe 2 players drafted from the Gene Smith era who got second deals (one of whom, amazingly, was Alualu).  Considering this, how could there be lots of cap space eaten up?

2.  The overwhelming majority of rosters in the league are incomplete.  The team that just beat us, the Chiefs, were in the AFC championship game last year and were an off sides penalty from reaching the Super Bowl.  They were at the bottom in defense last year and aren't much better now.  The team that was the runner up in the Super bowl last year, the LA Rams, have questions in the offensive line. 

3.  The overpriced and inconsistent defense?!?  You mean the defense that has finished in the top 6 three years running?  When have they been inconsistent?  They've had bad games the past few years against Pittsburgh in the playoffs (they still won, by the way, and made several big plays in that game), the first game against Indy last year-a team with a good to great offensive line and a good to great QB.  Correction, they had a bad first half against them, shut them out in the second half, then proceeded to shut them out completely in the rematch, without the benefit of help from the offense.  They had a collapse against Tennessee on a Thursday night game when Derrick Henry ran all over them.  Dallas beat them pretty bad (a team that many consider to be a Super bowl contender in the NFC with one of the best OLs, RBs, and receivers in football), and KC, who may have one of the best offenses in the last twenty years.  Overpriced?  How?  Three of the highest paid players on that side of the ball are Calais Campbell (defensive player of the year award winner). A.J. Bouye (Pro Bowler), and Marcell Dareus (former pro bowler who restructured his deal.  Two of the team's best defenders, Jalen Ramsey and Yannick Ngakoue, are still on their rookie deals and most consider them underpaid in comparison to others in the league. 

4.  Yes, they could have used a more experienced backup for Foles.  But it isn't as if they have never had experienced backups under Caldwell.  They had Henne for years before going with Kessler last year.

5.  Are you seriously complaining about 5th round picks?  Yes, I know they can turn into good players...like Telvin Smith-a guy (Pro Bowler) that Caldwell drafted.  But given the need, and that they already acquired an extra 6th next year, I think they can manage that part of the draft.

Man sometimes I think you are trolling.

1.  The roster he inherited was not his fault but what he has done with the ammunition is.  The guy has drafted too many failures at the top of the draft in a short amount of time.  Joke Joeckle, Fowler, Borltes,  and the jury is till out on Fournette.  Despite 6 years of building this roster is incomplete in the way that there is not suitable depth behind most positions.  Sure every team has holes but not like the Jaguars.  The depth on this team is razor thin.  We lost our QB week 1 and relying on a 6th round rookie to save the season.  That does not speak volumes?   The cap space is mostly eaten up by free agents  not guys Caldwell drafted. I am not saying he is a complete buffoon.  He has hit on a couple of quality free agents and pretty good later in the draft.   He is not the right guy to rebuild this team if it needs an overhaul.

2.  Again, this roster is thin and most of it is on Dave and Tom.  They decided to pay Bortles after the one year wonder and now the team is paying for it.  That close to 20 million they are eating this year could do wonder to put better depth on this team.

3.  Numbers only say so much. The last couple of years this defense struggles in big games outside of teams not named Pittsburgh.   They get taken too school too often.  This defensive line's sack numbers were way down from 2017.  This same line sacked Mahomes 0 times.  The secondary is bi-polar.   I can remember a handful of games the last 2 years where both Bouye and Ramsey looked like burnt toast just like last week.  Yes this defense is way overpaid.   I also think it's backwards to invest so much money in defense in an offensive driven league.

4. Both are inept.  Thats the point.  This team should be in much better shape right now.

5.  Yes, when wasting draft picks on players that were not good to begin with.  Hyde was mediocre before we traded for him and Dobbs?   Dobb's may not be on the roster when Foles comes back.  Just a waste.

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(Emphasis added)

Gutting talent from a 2-14 team?!?

1.  Come on, you're better than that Bullseye.

Just because the team was 2-14 doesn't mean there wasn't some talent there. The offense was horrendous overall, but the defense had a lot of NFL-caliber talent (not SB-winning talent, but at least mediocrity). Caldwell took care of that though (and somehow managed to carve out a legacy as the man who, through no fault of his own, inherited a roster worse than Matt Millen's Lions, apparently.).

With all credit to the ever-reliable wikipedia, the "Notable Departures" from 2012 - 2013 (with my edits removing the worthwhile losses, like Guy Whimper... ):

• S Dawan Landry, released on March 8, 2013.
  
• RB Rashad Jennings, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• FB Greg Jones, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• DT Terrance Knighton, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• CB Rashean Mathis, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• LB Daryl Smith, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• DT C. J. Mosley, released on April 1, 2013.
  
• RB/FB Montell Owens, released on May 16, 2013
  
• FS Dwight Lowery, released from injured reserve on November 4, 2013.
  
• DE Jeremy Mincey, released on December 13, 2013.
  

Remember, Caldwell made little to no effort to re-sign most of those "declared free agents," so these weren't cases where Caldwell got outbid or anything.  



And, for completeness purposes, his draft that year:

1. Luke Joeckel
2. Jonathan Cyprien
3. Dwayne Gratz
4. Ace Sanders
5. Denard Robinson
6. Josh Evans
7. Jeremy Harris
8. Demetrius McCray

He did sign Abry Jones, Carson Tinker, and to a lesser extent LaRoy Reynolds as UDFAs though.

2.  But he also traded Eugene Monroe during the season.

Did he inherit a SB-ready team? Obviously not; don't misconstrue my argument. But I tend to agree with JagsFan06 that Caldwell removed almost every bit of mediocre NFL play from the Jags in his first off-season and generally replaced the talent with below-average talent, while stockpiling cap room. Yet now, for some reason, despite not actually winning anything, other than one year in the playoffs, Caldwell gets to reap the rewards of taking that 2013 team and turning it into the competitor that we saw in 2017, as though he had no hand in causing the 2013-and-on mess.  

3.  Caldwell chose not to pay for talent in his first years so he could play with house money for years, making big free agent splash after big free agent splash in the years after. Now that he has expectations to win, but doesn't have the endless cap room, I think you're seeing more people get frustrated with some of the moves that he used to be able to mask by just throwing the bank at a top-tier free agent. I think some of the complaints he's getting are fair (the 5th rounder for Hyde last year, given the team's refusal to use him after, being one, and now trading another 5th round draft pick this year--except this time for a 3rd string QB being a bigger example, in my opinion), though, obviously, others are not ("He should have told the coaches to coach better during the AFCCG.").

All that said, I lay most of the blame for this team on Marrone and his staff. But I am getting increasingly uneasy with the way Caldwell's managing the team with the depleted checkbook...

(Numbering added)

1.  For the purposes of this post, I do not disparage the above referenced players as a general proposition.  All (or at least most) of those players had decent to good careers overall and were assets to their respective teams while in their primes.  In fact, I point out that Caldwell himself admitted to underestimating the value of experience when he first began to shape the roster.  That said, those players at that stage in their careers were of little value to the Jaguars at that stage in the team's development.  First off, their presence on the team in 2012 did nothing to avoid a league worst 2-14 record.  While perhaps they could have been key contributors on more talent laden rosters, surrounded by sub par talent, their impact was mitigated.  At that stage of their careers, they couldn't even sensibly be considered building blocks upon which the new roster could be constructed.  Rashean Mathis was drafted in 2003 and by the time Caldwell arrived, was going into his ELEVENTH season at age 33.  There were already conversations beyond the whispering stage that Mathis was well past his prime.  Darryl Smith and Greg Jones were drafted the following year and were going into their tenth seasons, ages 31 and 32 respectively.  Dawan Landry was going into his EIGHTH year and was 31 when he left after one year with us.  Mosley was 30 by 2013.  Mincey was 30 as of 2013, while Jennings was a 28 year old RB (admittedly without a lot of mileage).  You also referenced Eugene Monroe, who was 26 years old when traded by the team in 2013.  You don't undergo a comprehensive roster rebuild while retaining players that age (26 year old Monroe excepted).  At most, retaining all of those guys would have resulted in another win or two per season, tops, while potentially lowering our draft position and missing out on guys like Ramsey, Jack, Ngakoue, Allen Robinson and Cam Robinson.   Furthermore, each and every one of those guys you listed were out of the league before the 2017 season, so it isn't as if keeping those players was the difference between us winning the AFCCG or not that year.  Their presence would not have turned those teams around, (leaving us still firmly into the "suck mightily" category), leaving us in a worse position to improve the roster through the draft, and potentially taking snaps away from younger players who could develop.

2.  Yes, Caldwell had a hand in making the roster worse before making it better.  That's typically what happens when you try to rebuild a roster that produced the worst record in the league.  When Jimmy Johnson took over Dallas, he took over a team that finished 3-13 in 1988, and finished 1-15 in 1989.  That year, he jettisoned older vets like Steve Pelleur, Randy White, traded away Herschel Walker, and phased out Ed Jones.  Without question, Johnson made the roster better after getting rid of vets who might have contributed to another win.  Now Caldwell didn't have the wild success that Johnson did, but without question, the roster now is dramatically better than it was when he took over.  He drafted/signed its first 1000 yard receivers since Smith and McCardell were brought aboard in the MID 1990s!!! He drafted  Ngakoue the team's first double digit sacker since Bobby McCray in 2004, and first truly productive DE since Brackens in 1996.  He drafted the team's first Pro Bowler at OLB in Telvin Smith since Kevin Hardy was drafted in 1996.  He drafted Jalen Ramsey the team's first Pro bowl CB since Rashean Mathis in 2003, and the teams first All Pro DB.

3.  You're blaming him for improving the roster to the point where the team has made a Super Bowl run, with several players earning post season honors, second contracts with the team, and fans wishing several other players are/were treated similarly, actually signing productive free agents like Campbell, Jackson, Bouye and Parnell, and as a result, having less cap money?  Seriously?

---

 

Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

I have pretty simple expectations. I can look at what Dave has been handed. That is more high draft picks and, by far, more FA $ spent than any other GM in NFL history.

In return he has given us all but one losing season, and currently the probable worst team in the division. But by all means let's see if the 8th time is the charm next year!

Bingo! No matter what reason, what caused what, what Caldwell was given we can't continue to make excuses. As a GM your are hired to bring in the necessary personnel to make sure the team will compete.
if you picked the wrong people which led to the wrong circumstances year after year, that falls on you. He is the only one still here (outside of Kahn) he has to be accountable.  1 successful year since 2013? Your chances eventually run out. 
Maybe because Kahn is still somewhat new.. maybe he doesn't want to give up on Caldwell but if we don't see a 2017 type season, Caldwell should be gone.

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1.  The years of high draft picks weren't all his fault.  He inherited a roster completely devoid of talent, coming off five straight losing seasons, with maybe 2 players drafted from the Gene Smith era who got second deals (one of whom, amazingly, was Alualu).  Considering this, how could there be lots of cap space eaten up?

2.  The overwhelming majority of rosters in the league are incomplete.  The team that just beat us, the Chiefs, were in the AFC championship game last year and were an off sides penalty from reaching the Super Bowl.  They were at the bottom in defense last year and aren't much better now.  The team that was the runner up in the Super bowl last year, the LA Rams, have questions in the offensive line. 

3.  The overpriced and inconsistent defense?!?  You mean the defense that has finished in the top 6 three years running?  When have they been inconsistent?  They've had bad games the past few years against Pittsburgh in the playoffs (they still won, by the way, and made several big plays in that game), the first game against Indy last year-a team with a good to great offensive line and a good to great QB.  Correction, they had a bad first half against them, shut them out in the second half, then proceeded to shut them out completely in the rematch, without the benefit of help from the offense.  They had a collapse against Tennessee on a Thursday night game when Derrick Henry ran all over them.  Dallas beat them pretty bad (a team that many consider to be a Super bowl contender in the NFC with one of the best OLs, RBs, and receivers in football), and KC, who may have one of the best offenses in the last twenty years.  Overpriced?  How?  Three of the highest paid players on that side of the ball are Calais Campbell (defensive player of the year award winner). A.J. Bouye (Pro Bowler), and Marcell Dareus (former pro bowler who restructured his deal.  Two of the team's best defenders, Jalen Ramsey and Yannick Ngakoue, are still on their rookie deals and most consider them underpaid in comparison to others in the league. 

4.  Yes, they could have used a more experienced backup for Foles.  But it isn't as if they have never had experienced backups under Caldwell.  They had Henne for years before going with Kessler last year.

5.  Are you seriously complaining about 5th round picks?  Yes, I know they can turn into good players...like Telvin Smith-a guy (Pro Bowler) that Caldwell drafted.  But given the need, and that they already acquired an extra 6th next year, I think they can manage that part of the draft.

Man sometimes I think you are trolling.

1.  The roster he inherited was not his fault but what he has done with the ammunition is.  The guy has drafted too many failures at the top of the draft in a short amount of time.  Joke Joeckle, Fowler, Borltes,  and the jury is till out on Fournette.  Despite 6 years of building this roster is incomplete in the way that there is not suitable depth behind most positions.  Sure every team has holes but not like the Jaguars.  The depth on this team is razor thin.  We lost our QB week 1 and relying on a 6th round rookie to save the season.  That does not speak volumes?   The cap space is mostly eaten up by free agents  not guys Caldwell drafted. I am not saying he is a complete buffoon.  He has hit on a couple of quality free agents and pretty good later in the draft.   He is not the right guy to rebuild this team if it needs an overhaul.

2.  Again, this roster is thin and most of it is on Dave and Tom.  They decided to pay Bortles after the one year wonder and now the team is paying for it.  That close to 20 million they are eating this year could do wonder to put better depth on this team.

3.  Numbers only say so much. The last couple of years this defense struggles in big games outside of teams not named Pittsburgh.   They get taken too school too often.  This defensive line's sack numbers were way down from 2017.  This same line sacked Mahomes 0 times.  The secondary is bi-polar.   I can remember a handful of games the last 2 years where both Bouye and Ramsey looked like burnt toast just like last week.  Yes this defense is way overpaid.   I also think it's backwards to invest so much money in defense in an offensive driven league.

4. Both are inept.  Thats the point.  This team should be in much better shape right now.

5.  Yes, when wasting draft picks on players that were not good to begin with.  Hyde was mediocre before we traded for him and Dobbs?   Dobb's may not be on the roster when Foles comes back.  Just a waste.

1.  You harp on those early missed, but completely ignore the hits that replaced those misses, often in lower rounds.  Joeckel was a bad pick at the top of a bad draft.  The team subsequently drafted Cam Robinson.  While nobody would mistake him for Art Shell, Cam DID anchor LT in a year we led the league in rushing and set a franchise low for sacks allowed in a season.  Fowler was a miss due to injury and immaturity.  The injury, occurring 30 minutes into his first minicamp practice, could not have been foreseen.  But within a year's time, Caldwell found Fowler's replacement in Ngakoue in the 3rd round.  Ngakoue has been one of the most productive pass rushers in the league since 2016 and made the Pro Bowl.  His selection allowed Caldwell to trade Fowler for the 3rd round pick he spent on Ngakoue.  Yes, Bortles was ultimately a bust, but he had his moments, including arguably the best playoff run by any QB in team history.  You demand draft choice perfection.  Pro football doesn't work that way.

2.  See my response to I AM Yoda in terms of the thin roster, where I discuss developing offensive depth.  As far as defensive depth, I'd say we're pretty deep at DE/Edge rusher and CB. The LB depth was impacted by Telvin Smith's unforeseen retirement and Ryan's injury.

3.  An odd statement on any number of levels.  Over the last couple of years, in big games against teams NOT named Pittsburgh (why not exclude games played on sunny days in the fall viewed by guys named Kevin while you're at it) , the Jaguars had big games against Houston, opening day 2017 where they recorded 10 sacks.  The London game saw the defense hold the Ravens to 7.  Week 10 of that year saw the defense come up big against Phillip Rivers and the chargers, holding them to 17 points.  In what amounted to the division clinching game, the defense held Houston to 7 points.  Though they lost the game, the defense held Tennessee in week 17 to 15 points.  In the team's first playoff game since the 2007 season and the first home playoff game since 1999, the defense held the Bills to 3 points.

Last year, the defense held the Patriots to 20 points, a full TD under their average, and only gave up that much due to some 2nd half turnovers in Jaguars territory.  Even though they lost, they held Tennessee to 9 points, and they gave up only 23 points on defense to KC-which was below their average (more on the Chiefs in a bit), and while at that point in last season, it's questionable whether it counted as a big game, they shut out the then red hot Colts.  But of course, your frothing at the mouth was spawned by the bad games.  Yes, they performed poorly against Dallas, a current favorite in the NFC for the Super Bowl, with one of the best offensive lines, rushing attacks, and WRs in the game.  Your rant is also in large part inspired by last week's loss to the Chiefs.  Yes, the defense looked horrible in the loss, no argument there.  But in looking at the Chiefs, let me present you some more numbers that say more than you think.  Last year's team (virtually identical offensively to this year's) scored 565 points, averaging 35.3 ppg.  For comparison, the 1999 Greatest Show on Turf Rams scored 526 points, the 2007 Patriots scored 589 points, and the 2013 Broncos scored 606.  So last year, the Chiefs ranked among the top 5 scoring offenses all time, and certainly within the last 20 years.  In putting up these numbers, they put up

38 vs the Chargers (ranked 8th in points allowed and 9th scoring)
42 vs the Steelers (6th in yards)
40 vs New England* (7th scoring) 
51 vs. the Rams*
27 vs. Baltimore (2nd, 1st)
28 vs. the Chargers (8th, 9th)

Playoffs
31 vs Indy (11th in yards)
31 in 2nd half vs. New England

* denotes Super Bowl teams

So are all of those teams overhyped, loud mouthed, overpaid defensively?  Maybe I'm just spitballing here-or "trolling" to use your wording-but perhaps maybe Kansas city is just that good and would pose problems for any defense, not just the overpaid, overhyped and indisciplined defense of the Jaguars that finished top 6 three years running?

4.  The same inept backup in Henne is the backup to Mahomes in KC, one of the favorites in the AFC.  Perhaps the KC brass don't know offense.  But who would you have as our backup, and how would you propose to get him?

5.  What are the odds of 5th round picks making the team, much less starting?  If you are going to bellyache this much about two trades borne of injury fueled desperation, why remain so silent when it comes to giving Caldwell credit for T. Smith?  Where is the credit for getting the 5th round pick for Monroe, the 6th round pick for Gabbert, and the 6th round pick next year for trading out of the 7th this year?

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

1.  Come on, you're better than that Bullseye.

Just because the team was 2-14 doesn't mean there wasn't some talent there. The offense was horrendous overall, but the defense had a lot of NFL-caliber talent (not SB-winning talent, but at least mediocrity). Caldwell took care of that though (and somehow managed to carve out a legacy as the man who, through no fault of his own, inherited a roster worse than Matt Millen's Lions, apparently.).

With all credit to the ever-reliable wikipedia, the "Notable Departures" from 2012 - 2013 (with my edits removing the worthwhile losses, like Guy Whimper... ):

• S Dawan Landry, released on March 8, 2013.
  
• RB Rashad Jennings, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• FB Greg Jones, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• DT Terrance Knighton, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• CB Rashean Mathis, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• LB Daryl Smith, declared free agent on March 12, 2013.
  
• DT C. J. Mosley, released on April 1, 2013.
  
• RB/FB Montell Owens, released on May 16, 2013
  
• FS Dwight Lowery, released from injured reserve on November 4, 2013.
  
• DE Jeremy Mincey, released on December 13, 2013.
  

Remember, Caldwell made little to no effort to re-sign most of those "declared free agents," so these weren't cases where Caldwell got outbid or anything.  



And, for completeness purposes, his draft that year:

1. Luke Joeckel
2. Jonathan Cyprien
3. Dwayne Gratz
4. Ace Sanders
5. Denard Robinson
6. Josh Evans
7. Jeremy Harris
8. Demetrius McCray

He did sign Abry Jones, Carson Tinker, and to a lesser extent LaRoy Reynolds as UDFAs though.

2.  But he also traded Eugene Monroe during the season.

Did he inherit a SB-ready team? Obviously not; don't misconstrue my argument. But I tend to agree with JagsFan06 that Caldwell removed almost every bit of mediocre NFL play from the Jags in his first off-season and generally replaced the talent with below-average talent, while stockpiling cap room. Yet now, for some reason, despite not actually winning anything, other than one year in the playoffs, Caldwell gets to reap the rewards of taking that 2013 team and turning it into the competitor that we saw in 2017, as though he had no hand in causing the 2013-and-on mess.  

3.  Caldwell chose not to pay for talent in his first years so he could play with house money for years, making big free agent splash after big free agent splash in the years after. Now that he has expectations to win, but doesn't have the endless cap room, I think you're seeing more people get frustrated with some of the moves that he used to be able to mask by just throwing the bank at a top-tier free agent. I think some of the complaints he's getting are fair (the 5th rounder for Hyde last year, given the team's refusal to use him after, being one, and now trading another 5th round draft pick this year--except this time for a 3rd string QB being a bigger example, in my opinion), though, obviously, others are not ("He should have told the coaches to coach better during the AFCCG.").

All that said, I lay most of the blame for this team on Marrone and his staff. But I am getting increasingly uneasy with the way Caldwell's managing the team with the depleted checkbook...

(Numbering added)

For the purposes of this post, I do not disparage the above referenced players as a general proposition.  All (or at least most) of those players had decent to good careers overall and were assets to their respective teams while in their primes.  In fact, I point out that Caldwell himself admitted to underestimating the value of experience when he first began to shape the roster.  That said, those players at that stage in their careers were of little value to the Jaguars at that stage in the team's development.  First off, their presence on the team in 2012 did nothing to avoid a league worst 2-14 record.  While perhaps they could have been key contributors on more talent laden rosters, surrounded by sub par talent, their impact was mitigated.  At that stage of their careers, they couldn't even sensibly be considered building blocks upon which the new roster could be constructed.  Rashean Mathis was drafted in 2003 and by the time Caldwell arrived, was going into his ELEVENTH season at age 33.  There were already conversations beyond the whispering stage that Mathis was well past his prime.  Darryl Smith and Greg Jones were drafted the following year and were going into their tenth seasons, ages 31 and 32 respectively.  Dawan Landry was going into his EIGHTH year and was 31 when he left after one year with us.  Mosley was 30 by 2013.  Mincey was 30 as of 2013, while Jennings was a 28 year old RB (admittedly without a lot of mileage).  You also referenced Eugene Monroe, who was 26 years old when traded by the team in 2013.  You don't undergo a comprehensive roster rebuild while retaining players that age (26 year old Monroe excepted).  At most, retaining all of those guys would have resulted in another win or two per season, tops, while potentially lowering our draft position and missing out on guys like Ramsey, Jack, Ngakoue, Allen Robinson and Cam Robinson.   Furthermore, each and every one of those guys you listed were out of the league before the 2017 season, so it isn't as if keeping those players was the difference between us winning the AFCCG or not that year.  Their presence would not have turned those teams around, (leaving us still firmly into the "suck mightily" category), leaving us in a worse position to improve the roster through the draft, and potentially taking snaps away from younger players who could develop.

2.  Yes, Caldwell had a hand in making the roster worse before making it better.  That's typically what happens when you try to rebuild a roster that produced the worst record in the league.  When Jimmy Johnson took over Dallas, he took over a team that finished 3-13 in 1988, and finished 1-15 in 1989.  That year, he jettisoned older vets like Steve Pelleur, Randy White, traded away Herschel Walker, and phased out Ed Jones.  Without question, Johnson made the roster better after getting rid of vets who might have contributed to another win.  Now Caldwell didn't have the wild success that Johnson did, but without question, the roster now is dramatically better than it was when he took over.  He drafted/signed its first 1000 yard receivers since Smith and McCardell were brought aboard in the MID 1990s!!! He drafted  Ngakoue the team's first double digit sacker since Bobby McCray in 2004, and first truly productive DE since Brackens in 1996.  He drafted the team's first Pro Bowler at OLB in Telvin Smith since Kevin Hardy was drafted in 1996.  He drafted Jalen Ramsey the team's first Pro bowl CB since Rashean Mathis in 2003, and the teams first All Pro DB.

3.  You're blaming him for improving the roster to the point where the team has made a Super Bowl run, with several players earning post season honors, second contracts with the team, and fans wishing several other players are/were treated similarly, actually signing productive free agents like Campbell, Jackson, Bouye and Parnell, and as a result, having less cap money?  Seriously?

I'm getting rid of your numbers for this post, because they're silly... No, I'm just kidding. I think all the points run together, so they don't really need to be further distinguished anymore. Thus, I'll just address them as one.  

To start: I don't want to say either of us have shifted the goal posts, because I don't think we did. But I think you're in TIAA Bank Field and I'm in CenturyLink Field (for purposes of continuing the metaphor).

The initial post said Caldwell gutted the roster of talent before taking over and you asked how he could gut the roster of talent from a 2-14 team. I never said, nor would I ever try arguing, that the players cut could, or should, have been building blocks. Nor would I try arguing that they should have been on the team for any period of years, especially as late as 2017. Now, with those defensive players, plus a few upgrades on offense, perhaps the team doesn't look as awful as it did in 2013. Are they superbowl contenders with all those guys retained? Almost certainly not. But there was enough talent, which Caldwell got rid of, to lead the Jags to mediocrity.

The argument was simply that you can't say Caldwell was handed such a poor hand that we're just going to write off his first couple of years, when he actively got rid of the half-decent players on the team upon starting. His hands are all over those first years because it was his strategy: he cleared the books and kept salaries down so he could draft high and make big FA splashes. I, personally, didn't (and still don't) have much issue with that strategy (though, my emotional side was pretty hurt by the Greg Jones; Mathis; and Smith decisions).

The issue arises when you look at the fact that he basically played GM with the salary cap turned off, and consistent top draft pick spots, and all he got for it was one loss in the AFCCG and 5 losing seasons. Now that his endless cap room has ended, his decisions are coming under an enlarged microscope (and rightfully so): bad moves can't simply be covered by big free agent signings (sure he tried covering Bortles--both the initial drafting and the extension--with Foles this last offseason, but that required significant cuts [and may still require more] just to account for that move alone. Plus he still has to deal with trying to re-sign Yan and Ramsey. In comparison, when he had endless cap room he masked the Gratz and Colvin [as a starting outside corner] misses with Bouye; the Cyprien miss with Church; the Josh Evans and Winston Guy fiasco with Gipson; the Zane Beadles miss with Andrew Norwell; and the [ultimately net-zero] Julius Thomas to ASJ move, among others.).

Caldwell's not infallible and I'm, admittedly, a little tired of him continuing to get a free pass for those first few years where he gutted the roster. Had he led the team to a 76'ers like resurgence after his tanking, it'd be one thing. But he didn't: he led the team to one non-losing season with all the resources any GM could ever hope for. And now we're supposed to continue acting as though he's an infallible savior who cannot be questioned because of how bad Gene Smith was--even if Caldwell actively got rid of the few decent players Smith left on the team. "In Gene we trust" taught us nothing, I guess...

For all that, does this mean I want Caldwell gone? No. I lay most of the blame on Marrone for the team underperforming. But I am getting worried about Caldwell's decision-making now that he doesn't have a limitless salary cap. And I don't think it's "cognitive dissonance" to say "Marrone's not a great coach, and this team should be better, but simultaneously Caldwell is revealing a pattern of questionable decision making, which seems to be leading straight to continued basement dwelling. So maybe we need to start looking, and really looking, at his performance before it gets too late..."

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"The season's not over... we still have a bunch of games to lose..." - TemporaryName

 


"The middle of the field is like Narnia to us, we don't believe it really exists" - Marvsin


 

(Numbering added)

For the purposes of this post, I do not disparage the above referenced players as a general proposition.  All (or at least most) of those players had decent to good careers overall and were assets to their respective teams while in their primes.  In fact, I point out that Caldwell himself admitted to underestimating the value of experience when he first began to shape the roster.  That said, those players at that stage in their careers were of little value to the Jaguars at that stage in the team's development.  First off, their presence on the team in 2012 did nothing to avoid a league worst 2-14 record.  While perhaps they could have been key contributors on more talent laden rosters, surrounded by sub par talent, their impact was mitigated.  At that stage of their careers, they couldn't even sensibly be considered building blocks upon which the new roster could be constructed.  Rashean Mathis was drafted in 2003 and by the time Caldwell arrived, was going into his ELEVENTH season at age 33.  There were already conversations beyond the whispering stage that Mathis was well past his prime.  Darryl Smith and Greg Jones were drafted the following year and were going into their tenth seasons, ages 31 and 32 respectively.  Dawan Landry was going into his EIGHTH year and was 31 when he left after one year with us.  Mosley was 30 by 2013.  Mincey was 30 as of 2013, while Jennings was a 28 year old RB (admittedly without a lot of mileage).  You also referenced Eugene Monroe, who was 26 years old when traded by the team in 2013.  You don't undergo a comprehensive roster rebuild while retaining players that age (26 year old Monroe excepted).  At most, retaining all of those guys would have resulted in another win or two per season, tops, while potentially lowering our draft position and missing out on guys like Ramsey, Jack, Ngakoue, Allen Robinson and Cam Robinson.   Furthermore, each and every one of those guys you listed were out of the league before the 2017 season, so it isn't as if keeping those players was the difference between us winning the AFCCG or not that year.  Their presence would not have turned those teams around, (leaving us still firmly into the "suck mightily" category), leaving us in a worse position to improve the roster through the draft, and potentially taking snaps away from younger players who could develop.

2.  Yes, Caldwell had a hand in making the roster worse before making it better.  That's typically what happens when you try to rebuild a roster that produced the worst record in the league.  When Jimmy Johnson took over Dallas, he took over a team that finished 3-13 in 1988, and finished 1-15 in 1989.  That year, he jettisoned older vets like Steve Pelleur, Randy White, traded away Herschel Walker, and phased out Ed Jones.  Without question, Johnson made the roster better after getting rid of vets who might have contributed to another win.  Now Caldwell didn't have the wild success that Johnson did, but without question, the roster now is dramatically better than it was when he took over.  He drafted/signed its first 1000 yard receivers since Smith and McCardell were brought aboard in the MID 1990s!!! He drafted  Ngakoue the team's first double digit sacker since Bobby McCray in 2004, and first truly productive DE since Brackens in 1996.  He drafted the team's first Pro Bowler at OLB in Telvin Smith since Kevin Hardy was drafted in 1996.  He drafted Jalen Ramsey the team's first Pro bowl CB since Rashean Mathis in 2003, and the teams first All Pro DB.

3.  You're blaming him for improving the roster to the point where the team has made a Super Bowl run, with several players earning post season honors, second contracts with the team, and fans wishing several other players are/were treated similarly, actually signing productive free agents like Campbell, Jackson, Bouye and Parnell, and as a result, having less cap money?  Seriously?

I'm getting rid of your numbers for this post, because they're silly... No, I'm just kidding. I think all the points run together, so they don't really need to be further distinguished anymore. Thus, I'll just address them as one.  

To start: I don't want to say either of us have shifted the goal posts, because I don't think we did. But I think you're in TIAA Bank Field and I'm in CenturyLink Field (for purposes of continuing the metaphor).

The initial post said Caldwell gutted the roster of talent before taking over and you asked how he could gut the roster of talent from a 2-14 team. I never said, nor would I ever try arguing, that the players cut could, or should, have been building blocks. Nor would I try arguing that they should have been on the team for any period of years, especially as late as 2017. Now, with those defensive players, plus a few upgrades on offense, perhaps the team doesn't look as awful as it did in 2013. Are they superbowl contenders with all those guys retained? Almost certainly not. But there was enough talent, which Caldwell got rid of, to lead the Jags to mediocrity.

The argument was simply that you can't say Caldwell was handed such a poor hand that we're just going to write off his first couple of years, when he actively got rid of the half-decent players on the team upon starting. His hands are all over those first years because it was his strategy: he cleared the books and kept salaries down so he could draft high and make big FA splashes. I, personally, didn't (and still don't) have much issue with that strategy (though, my emotional side was pretty hurt by the Greg Jones; Mathis; and Smith decisions).

The issue arises when you look at the fact that he basically played GM with the salary cap turned off, and consistent top draft pick spots, and all he got for it was one loss in the AFCCG and 5 losing seasons. Now that his endless cap room has ended, his decisions are coming under an enlarged microscope (and rightfully so): bad moves can't simply be covered by big free agent signings (sure he tried covering Bortles--both the initial drafting and the extension--with Foles this last offseason, but that required significant cuts [and may still require more] just to account for that move alone. Plus he still has to deal with trying to re-sign Yan and Ramsey. In comparison, when he had endless cap room he masked the Gratz and Colvin [as a starting outside corner] misses with Bouye; the Cyprien miss with Church; the Josh Evans and Winston Guy fiasco with Gipson; the Zane Beadles miss with Andrew Norwell; and the [ultimately net-zero] Julius Thomas to ASJ move, among others.).

Caldwell's not infallible and I'm, admittedly, a little tired of him continuing to get a free pass for those first few years where he gutted the roster. Had he led the team to a 76'ers like resurgence after his tanking, it'd be one thing. But he didn't: he led the team to one non-losing season with all the resources any GM could ever hope for. And now we're supposed to continue acting as though he's an infallible savior who cannot be questioned because of how bad Gene Smith was--even if Caldwell actively got rid of the few decent players Smith left on the team. "In Gene we trust" taught us nothing, I guess...

For all that, does this mean I want Caldwell gone? No. I lay most of the blame on Marrone for the team underperforming. But I am getting worried about Caldwell's decision-making now that he doesn't have a limitless salary cap. And I don't think it's "cognitive dissonance" to say "Marrone's not a great coach, and this team should be better, but simultaneously Caldwell is revealing a pattern of questionable decision making, which seems to be leading straight to continued basement dwelling. So maybe we need to start looking, and really looking, at his performance before it gets too late..."

Let me say I don't think Caldwell is "infallible" or completely blameless for the early results.  I just don't think getting rid of all of that older talent from the team is what gives him culpability.  I think he has three reasons he bears some responsibility for those early days.

1.  Hiring Gus Bradley-'Nuff said
2.  Missing on Bortles-yeah, he needed to take a QB, and none were there to be had in '13.  But Bortles wasn't the answer.
3.  Early horrible free agent signings like Zane Beadles, Toby Gerhart, and Jared Odrick.

Those are the reasons to trash his early performances here, IMO.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!