Hey guys, I decided that in lieu of Jags football, I'm gonna start up a series called "Random League Topics" in this thread. Here I'm going to be talking about random figures in the NFL that don't necessarily have anything to do with current events, but may be interesting to discuss (I probably won't do another one until next off-season, but I digress). For my first topic, I wanted to discuss the interesting coaching career former Jaguars coach, and the 2nd in franchise history, Jack Del Rio. 

His coaching career started in New Orleans as an assistant in the late 90's. He then ascended to linebackers coach for that legendary early 2000's squad in Baltimore. Carolina came knocking soon after to make him their Defensive Coordinator in 2002, and then after that came his stint from 2003 to 2011 as the Jags head coach after we canned Coughlin (The first go-around). He's then hired in 2012 by the Broncos as Defensive Coordinator, and in my opinion was an integral part of the development of that teams soon-to-be elite defense. He gets another shot at Head Coach when the Raiders offered him the gig in 2015. I personally thought this was a great hire. They made the playoffs 1 out of his 3 years as head ball coach. This is where it gets interesting. 
The Raiders offer him an extension, and he accepts. Then, after the regular season finale, he's canned after a blowout loss to the Chargers. It's soon reported afterwards that Jon Gruden is going to be the next head coach of the Raiders for the second time around, and he's getting $100M guaranteed for 10 seasons. Jack Del Rio takes a few years off, and re-surfaces as the Defensive coordinator of the Commanders, joining Rivera's staff, where things have been relatively quiet for him, with the exception of some slightly controversial comments recently.


Here's why I chose this topic: I think that Jack Del Rio is a good head coach, and I think he was totally screwed over by the Raiders. They may have underwhelmed in his final season, but 6-10 certainly isn't abysmal. You can also definitely blame a lack of offensive talent on that team as a culprit as well. I don't think Del Rio is top tier, but I believe he deserves another shot as HC. He had some brief controversy recently about some comments about the white house riots, but in my opinion that was totally taken out of context. 


I'll say this. If I'm a built NFL team that needs a coach, I'm interviewing Del Rio. I think he has the experience and potential to still win plenty of games. What do you guys think? Do you think he ever coaches again? Would love to hear ya'lls thoughts.

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I dunno.  He's a defensive coach in an offensive era, so the trend doesn't favor him.  I think he could turn a team like Chicago or Detroit around fairly quickly.  He seems like an NFC/AFC Central type of coach to me now.

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"Remember Red, Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."  - Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

I'll agree with the sentiment that JDR is a good coach. Maybe not great or anything revolutionary, but steady and reliable. During his time here, he seemed grounded, not overly emotional/volatile. Considering some of the teams he coached, you could say he got much more with a lot less.

If there are criticisms, I would say that in a lot of the off-script stuff he did I always felt like he was coaching by the book, if that makes sense. Think about new parents who rely on reading everything they can to learn how to raise the screaming diaper monster they created - the books may have some insights and you can regurgitate some wisdom from all the study, but books are only going to take you so far. Eventually you need some creativity, some experience, and some spontaneity to get through challenges. JDR also had a habit of churning through assistants, which made me wonder if he was expecting too much of them, or if he cycled through them rather than face the music of his own shortcomings.

In all, I'd say the good outweighed the bad when it comes to his past and potential as head coach. If a team wants to build a smash-mouth team that isn't going to win by finesse, he'd be a fine choice. You might only be capable of 7-10 wins each year, but expectations would be consistent in that range. He's just gotta keep his mouth and mind out of the political realm if he wants a head job.

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Del Rio took all of the swag out of our defense. That entire Mike Peterson situation pretty much ended everything.

Also, I never understood why our offense was so predictable. Leftwich was never allowed to call his own plays, nor did we ever spread out the offense in a shotgun formation, which the exception of our opening drive vs Seattle in week1 (for a TD) then went back to the boring run run pass offense.

Now, in light of his racist antics in Washington, he'll never get a HC job. https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/rea...story.html

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He’s mediocre as a head coach but has a history of going for it on 4th down which is exciting in the moment. He gets another shot only if a team missed out on their first choice and there are few other candidates out there worth hiring. He’d be on a short leash from the get go though that wouldn’t be obvious to the casual observer. He’d have 1 or 2 years and if playoffs weren’t achieved the team would move in another direction. More likely than not his head coaching days are behind him.

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All interesting takes. I guess I've just always thought that if he'd be given a better situation, he may be a super bowl winning HC. I truly believe that.

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Okay coach Terrible person

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No Fun

Okay coach Terrible person

You seriously going to hold that little mix up against him? What he said wasn't completely unreasonable.

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Okay coach Terrible person

You seriously going to hold that little mix up against him? What he said wasn't completely unreasonable.

It was completely reasonable, the fact people don’t see it as such is alarming. I always felt Jack Del Rio was a good coach, probably not elite or great… but good. He did well here considering what he was dealt, turned the team around and was pretty good squeezing out production offensively with some pretty meh QB play. Shack Harris had some great picks everywhere out QB, DE, and WR… arguably the most important positions outside of LT.

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Okay coach Terrible person

this.

Goes all the way back to his days as a player, how he dealt with the players' strike in 1987 was obscene.

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

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Del Rio took all of the swag out of our defense.  That entire Mike Peterson situation pretty much ended everything.

Also, I never understood why our offense was so predictable.  Leftwich was never allowed to call his own plays, nor did we ever spread out the offense in a shotgun formation, which the exception of our opening drive vs Seattle in week1 (for a TD) then went back to the boring run run pass offense.

Now, in light of his racist antics in Washington, he'll never get a HC job.  https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/rea...story.html

Political, yes. Racist, no.

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

He basically made some comments about the whole riot or whatever at DC, and how it was a "dust up", and how it didn't nearly compare to the riots in cities where people are burning down buildings, looting businesses, and destroying everything. I actually agree with JDR's comments. In typical fashion, the "woke mob" came after him pretty hard. Pretty pathetic and minuscule "controversy" if you ask me.

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

He basically made some comments about the whole riot or whatever at DC, and how it was a "dust up", and how it didn't nearly compare to the riots in cities where people are burning down buildings, looting businesses, and destroying everything. I actually agree with JDR's comments. In typical fashion, the "woke mob" came after him pretty hard. Pretty pathetic and minuscule "controversy" if you ask me.

YEP!!!

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

1. Go to google.
2. Type in Jack Del Rio Wiki
3. Click the first link
4. Read, gradually become more disappoiinted as you go

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

He basically made some comments about the whole riot or whatever at DC, and how it was a "dust up", and how it didn't nearly compare to the riots in cities where people are burning down buildings, looting businesses, and destroying everything. I actually agree with JDR's comments. In typical fashion, the "woke mob" came after him pretty hard. Pretty pathetic and minuscule "controversy" if you ask me.

Full on agree.

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

1. Go to google.
2. Type in Jack Del Rio Wiki
3. Click the first link
4. Read, gradually become more disappoiinted as you go

The only thing I saw in his Wiki that I would consider 'disappointing' was his mistaken attack of Otis Taylor. Considering the year and coach we just experienced here in Jax, this seems tame by comparison.

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"Remember Red, Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."  - Andy Dufresne, The Shawshank Redemption

Del Rio took all of the swag out of our defense.  That entire Mike Peterson situation pretty much ended everything.

Also, I never understood why our offense was so predictable.  Leftwich was never allowed to call his own plays, nor did we ever spread out the offense in a shotgun formation, which the exception of our opening drive vs Seattle in week1 (for a TD) then went back to the boring run run pass offense.

Now, in light of his racist antics in Washington, he'll never get a HC job.  https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/rea...story.html

Disagree on the last part, but what happened with Mike Peterson? I didn't start following the Jags religiously until around 2010, so although I'm familiar with that name and that whole defense, I'm out of the loop on what happened there.

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What happened with JDR for people to say he's a horrible person? I'm out of the loop on this one.

He basically made some comments about the whole riot or whatever at DC, and how it was a "dust up", and how it didn't nearly compare to the riots in cities where people are burning down buildings, looting businesses, and destroying everything. I actually agree with JDR's comments. In typical fashion, the "woke mob" came after him pretty hard. Pretty pathetic and minuscule "controversy" if you ask me.

Are you talking about the january 6th incident? because i'd hardly call it a "dust up" people were killed. A girl was shot in the face on video, that was a pretty bad event.

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He basically made some comments about the whole riot or whatever at DC, and how it was a "dust up", and how it didn't nearly compare to the riots in cities where people are burning down buildings, looting businesses, and destroying everything. I actually agree with JDR's comments. In typical fashion, the "woke mob" came after him pretty hard. Pretty pathetic and minuscule "controversy" if you ask me.

Are you talking about the january 6th incident? because i'd hardly call it a "dust up" people were killed. A girl was shot in the face on video, that was a pretty bad event.

And folks are killed in ghettos daily, just look at Chicago. Compared to the sheer number of murders, looting, destruction, and crime in the inner-city, the capitol riot is certainly comparable to a "dust-up".

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