(09-21-2020, 12:46 PM)rufftime Wrote:

(09-21-2020, 11:14 AM)jaglou53 Wrote: Caldwell has made some good decisions in his tenure with the Jaguars. Drafting Chark was one of the best. Signing Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye and Poz as free agents were also good moves.On the other hand, he drafted Bortles, Taven Bryan and Fournette. I give him no credit for Minshew and James Robinson. If he liked them so much, he would have taken Minshew earlier and spent a draft pick on Robinson. The Josh Allen and Ramsey picks were no-brainers who would have been picked by every other G.M. in the NFL. The jury is still out on this draft class, although they have great potential.

My point is that Caldwell is a middle of the road general manager who has had his share of hits and misses. Most general managers can say the same, except for guys like Matt Millen and a few others. The problem with Caldwell is that his mistakes have been so bad! Drafting Bortles and extending him were horrible mistakes. He was a good guy who tried hard, but never should have been drafted that high. I'll give Caldwell a pass on hiring Gus Bradley, but how could any general manager worth anything give Gus an extension after having the 2nd worst record in coaching history.

Shad Kahn should have kept his word from two years ago. He strongly implied that Caldwell would be gone if the team didn't significantly improve during this time. Unless they win at least 7 games with this young team, a change should be made.

I agree with your conclusion that Caldwell's record is unacceptable and he should have been fired after last season.  

I don't agree that he deserves no credit for Ramsey, Josh Allen, Minshew and Robinson.  We have seen GMs all over this league (including Caldwell) pass on superior talent (Ramsey/ Allen) to fill needs.  In the Allen draft, 2-4 teams are looking absolutely foolish for passing on him.  Every team in the league had several chances at the last two and didn't pull the trigger.  There is definitely an element of luck, but there is a ton of preparation by his scouting department to find these diamonds in the rough.  It is not random chance that he has found several including Abry Jones, Allen Hurns, Leon Jacobs, Telvin Smith, Aaron Colvin, Jarrod Wilson, Tre Herndon, Keelan Cole.

You are right that Caldwell deserves some credit for listening to the scouts who endorsed Minshew, Robinson, Herndon, Hurns, etc. He does have the final say on such matters. Your earlier statement about the strength of this team being Offense is totally true. For the remainder of this season, I'd expect several more high-scoring games like yesterday. The defense has too many young/inexperienced players and it takes at least one year for most rookies to get used to the speed of the NFL along with learning new schemes, etc. My hope is that Chaisson, Henderson and Hamilton continue to improve each week and become productive starters next season. I'd also like to see Barcoo get a chance to play later in the season because he seems to have the ball skills needed to play corner in the NFL. Depending on what happens with these key rookies, I would expect the off-season to still focus on the defensive side of the ball. Adding a safety seems like a given in the first 2 rounds. Hopefully, they will add quality players on both the offensive and defensive lines because depth is always needed at these key position groups.

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