Looking at it from the opposite perspective of “If was a fan of Baalke, how would I feel about this press conference?”, the answer is “I’m not ready to panic, but I’m definitely not feeling warm and fuzzy either.”

Obviously, even if Shad has made up his mind to move on from Baalke, he’s going to come right out and say “We’re just waiting to get all of the pieces in place , and then we’re moving on from Trent.”

However, if I’m Shad, and I have no intention of moving on from Baalke, this press conference was a good opportunity to make that absolutely clear.  I really didn’t hear a definitive endorsement from Shad aside of the usual “We’re all a big, happy family here.” fluff.  Did anyone else?

I wonder if that is Shad learning from last year. And with the joke at the beginning of the press conference basically admitting he messed up last year.

As in, he will not fully endorse anyone unless until they actually do the job well here in Jacksonville. More of "You have the job, but can you keep it" mentality.

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Shad about not firing Baalke , “he’s under contract”

I didn’t get the impression that Shad was high on Baalke at all during this presser. I think the reports of him being too lazy to go through another GM search are unfortunately true.

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When asked about it he talked about procedure, in other words he's hiring him but first he has to satisfy the league checkbox.

If it is solely Rooney rule though, interviewing a minority candidate for that role now but as a sham would be a major PR issue after the Flores lawsuit news.

So if anything we should probably view this as Spielman is the frontrunner, but expect a few more interviews and maybe some leaks that they are really being considered?

But who would those minority candidates be? Didn't they already interview Caldwell for HC? Dungy probably doesn't want to get back into FO? I honestly don't know who they would interview for that position as a minority candidate.

Not really. There were twitter stories about Spielman being the guaranteed choice but the team never said that. He was nothing more than the first person they interviewed. They can interview other candidates now and choose the best fit. If it happens to be Spielman, so be it. If they choose someone else, same thing. 

The only problem is if there were some documented evidence that the Jags offered Spielman the job this past week and then set up the interviews.

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Shad about not firing Baalke , “he’s under contract”

I didn’t get the impression that Shad was high on Baalke at all during this presser. I think the reports of him being too lazy to go through another GM search are unfortunately true.

Yeah, I caught that too. I thought it was an odd choice of words.

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Pederson was the correct choice. I can't remember the last time the jags got a coach or player that was my #1 pick of the bunch. Very exciting.

I would've been good with any of Pederson, Byron, Daboll, Caldwell, or Hackett. Any of them would've been a good pick IMO.

I feel like Byron will eventually be a good HC but I felt a first time HC while Trevors still so young woulda been risky. I was hoping for Doug or Caldwell. But Dougs made some questionable QBs look really good.

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If it is solely Rooney rule though, interviewing a minority candidate for that role now but as a sham would be a major PR issue after the Flores lawsuit news.

So if anything we should probably view this as Spielman is the frontrunner, but expect a few more interviews and maybe some leaks that they are really being considered?

But who would those minority candidates be? Didn't they already interview Caldwell for HC? Dungy probably doesn't want to get back into FO? I honestly don't know who they would interview for that position as a minority candidate.

Not really. There were twitter stories about Spielman being the guaranteed choice but the team never said that. He was nothing more than the first person they interviewed. They can interview other candidates now and choose the best fit. If it happens to be Spielman, so be it. If they choose someone else, same thing. 

The only problem is if there were some documented evidence that the Jags offered Spielman the job this past week and then set up the interviews.

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Shad about not firing Baalke , “he’s under contract”

I didn’t get the impression that Shad was high on Baalke at all during this presser. I think the reports of him being too lazy to go through another GM search are unfortunately true.

Yeah, I caught that too. I thought it was an odd choice of words.

I didn't think it was odd at all.  I think it was an odd question.   What Khan was saying was, why would I announce that I am keeping someone who is already under contract?

You make a good point about Spielman.  And, I think there might be a lot of pressure from the league for us to hire a minority in that spot.  On the other hand, I would assume an EVP would be someone with GM experience, since he will be over the GM.  He needs to be able to step in as GM if that is called for.  There are not a lot of ex-GMs that are minorities.  So it would be hard to find a minority candidate for that spot, unless you get an ex-coach like Caldwell.

In addition, and I think this might become a very important factor, there will be a lot of pressure now on minority candidates not to take part in sham interviews.  Watch out for that.

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Looking at it from the opposite perspective of “If was a fan of Baalke, how would I feel about this press conference?”, the answer is “I’m not ready to panic, but I’m definitely not feeling warm and fuzzy either.”

Obviously, even if Shad has made up his mind to move on from Baalke, he’s going to come right out and say “We’re just waiting to get all of the pieces in place , and then we’re moving on from Trent.”

However, if I’m Shad, and I have no intention of moving on from Baalke, this press conference was a good opportunity to make that absolutely clear.  I really didn’t hear a definitive endorsement from Shad aside of the usual “We’re all a big, happy family here.” fluff.  Did anyone else?

I got the sense that it's going to be a "collaboration" to an extent. Not trying to sound like a smartass. But, I think that's the problem here. Khan even said he's apart of the process. Why? He doesn't need to be. Nor does Tony. 

Hire Spielman to be above Baalke. Hire some other young and up and comer to be beneath Baalke. However, at the end of the day? Pederson needs to be telling these guys what he's looking for systematically, what he's looking for in an athlete and what he's looking for at each position to set this team up for success. 

It's then Spielman's and Baalke's job to get out there and make that happen. Whether it's by the free agency market or draft process. At the end of the day. As he said. He has to coach these guys. Not them. If I tell you this group is weak as hell? Fix it. If I tell you that I need this guy or that guy? Figure it the [BLEEP] out for me and bring them in here. If you need me to get on the phone or figure out a way to make a face-to-face appearance with that guy to get him on the team? Make it happen.

Having Baalke trying to weasel his [BLEEP] way into a conversation though to where he has any final stamp or seal of approval on personnel? Get the hell out of here. Fetch me film. Fetch my coffee. Fetch me my draftboard. Be the head scout in this region or that region. But, get the hell out of here with any final say on this or that. 

Spielman > Baalke.
Pederson > Spielman > Baalke. 

Baalke's input should be taken with a grain of salt if all three of these guys are at the table. Khan did his part already. Just stay out of the way. Him and Tony both. For the love of God.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

To be honest, I think the Rooney Rule does more harm than good. If I was a black head coach or front office candidate, I would walk into every interview wondering “Are they legitimately interested in me, or am I just here to comply with the Rooney Rule?” I would prefer there not to be a Rooney Rule so that I know that if I’m asked for an interview, it’s because the team has legitimate interest.

(This is in reference to the process of hiring an EVP in general and hiring Spielman in particular.)

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Not really. There were twitter stories about Spielman being the guaranteed choice but the team never said that. He was nothing more than the first person they interviewed. They can interview other candidates now and choose the best fit. If it happens to be Spielman, so be it. If they choose someone else, same thing. 

The only problem is if there were some documented evidence that the Jags offered Spielman the job this past week and then set up the interviews.

You make a good point about Spielman.  And, I think there might be a lot of pressure from the league for us to hire a minority in that spot.  On the other hand, I would assume an EVP would be someone with GM experience, since he will be over the GM.  He needs to be able to step in as GM if that is called for.  There are not a lot of ex-GMs that are minorities.  So it would be hard to find a minority candidate for that spot, unless you get an ex-coach like Caldwell.

I think that's a good point. It would be hard to challenge the legitimacy of choosing a candidate with 10 years of GM experience over another candidate with no GM experience. But who knows? Maybe Khan interviews Adrian Wilson or some other candidate, and they decide to go with a different candidate than Spielman. That's certainly possible as well. 

I just want to make sure there's someone over Baalke.

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I've decided I'm gonna gonna give this thing a 1 year probationary period, as long as someone else is in charge of drafting and free agency over Baalke. I still don't trust the guy and believe he will try and backdoor any EVP we bring in, but I'll give it a year and see what happens. Hopefully, Baalke stays in his place and we never hear from him again. The last thing we need is him messing things up.

I was very encouraged to hear Pederson was gonna be calling plays. I've always liked his playcalling, even if he wasn't my choice as a Head Coach. That's one less thing we have to worry about. The key coaching decisions we have to make now, is who will be our O-Line coach, QB Coach and Defensive Coordinator. Anyone should be better than George Warhop, so just getting rid of him should be a win. As for QB Coach, personally, I'd love to see us bring in someone who is already familiar and has a comfort level with Lawrence. Why not bring his old QB Coach at Clemson, Brandon Streeter? He helped turn Lawrence into a superstar college QB. It's just an idea I'd throw out there.

As for Defensive Coordinator, I'm good with anyone that keeps us in a 3-4 scheme. We brought so many new guys in to make the switch, that it would seem like going backwards if we switched back to a 4-3 and I really don't want to go back to that stupid 4-3 hybrid Seattle scheme. I hated that.

The next few weeks should be very interesting.

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I enjoyed the press conference I think the media did a very good job asking the hard questions and to be fair to shad while I might not agree with him when asked on baalke he kept saying he’s here because we want the best , whether we agree or not he’s put the distraction to bed and answered the question in the way he should

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I think Khan made it clear he’s putting a leash on Baalke.

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"If you always do what you've always done, You'll always get what you always got"

You make a good point about Spielman.  And, I think there might be a lot of pressure from the league for us to hire a minority in that spot.  On the other hand, I would assume an EVP would be someone with GM experience, since he will be over the GM.  He needs to be able to step in as GM if that is called for.  There are not a lot of ex-GMs that are minorities.  So it would be hard to find a minority candidate for that spot, unless you get an ex-coach like Caldwell.

I think that's a good point. It would be hard to challenge the legitimacy of choosing a candidate with 10 years of GM experience over another candidate with no GM experience. But who knows? Maybe Khan interviews Adrian Wilson or some other candidate, and they decide to go with a different candidate than Spielman. That's certainly possible as well. 

I just want to make sure there's someone over Baalke.

There could be some pressure on minority candidates to not go through sham interviews.  From organizations like the Fritz Pollard alliance, for example.

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To be honest, I think the Rooney Rule does more harm than good.  If I was a black head coach or front office candidate, I would walk into every interview wondering “Are they legitimately interested in me, or am I just here to comply with the Rooney Rule?”  I would prefer there not to be a Rooney Rule so that I know that if  I’m asked for an interview, it’s because the team has legitimate interest.

(This is in reference to the process of hiring an EVP in general and hiring Spielman in particular.)

The Rooney Rule was made with good intentions. I believe it actually opens the door to at least make teams to interview black coaches they might not have otherwise considered and maybe they end up making a really positive impression that might change someone's opinion. At the end of the day though, you hire the candidate you want, no matter what color they are. You shouldn't try to force teams to hire certain people based on skin color. There are a lot more white coaches and Coordinators than there are blacks, so naturally, the number of people hired is gonna be very skewed. If a black coach/coordinator really does well, he'll get his chance. 

As for anyone pointing to Eric Bieniemy, as a symbol of "racial injustice," I truly believe that he hasn't been hired as a head coach, not because of his skin color, but because of his sketchy past. Bringing him in as a HC, would be a P.R. nightmare.

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I've decided I'm gonna gonna give this thing a 1 year probationary period, as long as someone else is in charge of drafting and free agency over Baalke. I still don't trust the guy and believe he will try and backdoor any EVP we bring in, but I'll give it a year and see what happens. Hopefully, Baalke stays in his place and we never hear from him again. The last thing we need is him messing things up.

I was very encouraged to hear Pederson was gonna be calling plays. I've always liked his playcalling, even if he wasn't my choice as a Head Coach. That's one less thing we have to worry about. The key coaching decisions we have to make now, is who will be our O-Line coach, QB Coach and Defensive Coordinator. Anyone should be better than George Warhop, so just getting rid of him should be a win. As for QB Coach, personally, I'd love to see us bring in someone who is already familiar and has a comfort level with Lawrence. Why not bring his old QB Coach at Clemson, Brandon Streeter? He helped turn Lawrence into a superstar college QB. It's just an idea I'd throw out there.

As for Defensive Coordinator, I'm good with anyone that keeps us in a 3-4 scheme. We brought so many new guys in to make the switch, that it would seem like going backwards if we switched back to a 4-3 and I really don't want to go back to that stupid 4-3 hybrid Seattle scheme. I hated that.

The next few weeks should be very interesting.

Hell yeah!

Welcome to staying!

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I'm just now watching the presser. Very earnest guy. Not necessarily the most polished speaker but that's ok as long as he can turn this team around. He's saying it's not an overnight fix and he's right so appreciate that he's not trying to blow smoke.

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

Just confirmed evp incoming over Baalke. Spielman appears to be a pretty much done deal.

That's a huge piece of news to drop in the middle of that press conference.  

If it's true, I'm very elated about that.

But my source was wrong remember ? 

I’m just being tongue in cheek. We’re all happy the rumors are panning out

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I think that's a good point. It would be hard to challenge the legitimacy of choosing a candidate with 10 years of GM experience over another candidate with no GM experience. But who knows? Maybe Khan interviews Adrian Wilson or some other candidate, and they decide to go with a different candidate than Spielman. That's certainly possible as well. 

I just want to make sure there's someone over Baalke.

There could be some pressure on minority candidates to not go through sham interviews.  From organizations like the Fritz Pollard alliance, for example.

There could be. But if the Jags invite three minority candidates to interview, and they all decline the interviews, you'd think the Jags could point to that and said they had done their best to follow the rules. Awfully difficult to prove something is a "sham" interview.

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Pederson seems very down to earth. Went through a lot of emotions last year. Lost his brother to cancer. First time he was really out of football since 1991. First son got married and had a child so he's a grandfather, etc. He seems very high energy at the same time. He's excited. Hard not to like him. Just want to see what he does on the defensive side of the football and what the hell Khan is going to do with the EVP position and the other position beneath Baalke.

If it's not Spielman for EVP I hope he's thought about reaching out to Rick Smith at the very least.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

One thing I found encouraging was Khan's description of the coaching search.

Specificaly, he was saying that through his search, he learned about how other teams structured their front offices, and as a result, he is going to operate the team with a bigger football operations.

For years, the Bengals were a horrible franchise, in large part because they operated with a bare bones budget when it came to scouting and football operations.

I shudder to think we may have been making the same mistake.

However, I have to give Khan some credit here.  I was beginning to think either he didn't care about winning, and worse, didn't have the curiosity needed to get better at owning.  But if he holds true to his assertion he will bring more people into football operations, including an EVP, I iwill be impressed.

Now that still hans to translate into...you know...actually winning more games per year than you can count on one hand, but that sounds promising.

Pederson said he didn't think he was not behind in terms of assembling a staff, but was behind in things like coaching.

Basically the length [of the search-] was a feature not a bug. 

The Urban fiasco might have finally lit a fire under Khan 
 
I Am very encouraged. Better days might be ahead folks

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I'm just now watching the presser. Very earnest guy. Not necessarily the most polished speaker but that's ok as long as he can turn this team around. He's saying it's not an overnight fix and he's right so appreciate that he's not trying to blow smoke.

Pederson sounds like a MLK Jr type of speaker compared to how Shad sounded that presser. I've never seen someone fumble over his words so badly trying to answer questions that he had to know were coming.

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