At the NFL owners meeting last April, I asked a colleague from Buffalo, Doug Marrone’s last stop as a head coach, what we might expect in Jacksonville. “He’s a beaut,” the scribe said with a laugh. “He’ll be more miserable when you win.”

With that in mind, I set off to try and find out for myself. It’s a funny relationship built between the head coach of an NFL franchise or a major-college team and the media. They’re trying to control the message; you’re trying to find out the real story. If you can win their trust, you’ll have background on why things are happening. That’s if they’re willing to build that kind of relationship.

Early on during his first stint in Jacksonville, Tom Coughlin seemed willing to build that relationship. I talked with him on the phone; he called me, off the record, a few times during that first training camp in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. He sharpened my reporting, gave me solid insight and I didn’t betray his trust. Over time, though, Coughlin distanced himself from me and other media members and it contributed to his eventual firing. In his book, “Earn the Right to Win” he talks about how his relationship with and view of the media morphed over his career, especially in New York. His wife Judy had a lot to do with that.

You spend a lot of time with these guys, and developing a relationship where you both get something close to what you’re looking for takes work. It’s the reporter’s job to be smart, respectful of the position and ask the right questions. Challenging the head coach with our opinions is not our job, except to ask “Why” when things go wrong, or right in some cases.

Hiring Jack Del Rio seemed the right move at the time. He was a coach with a “modern-day” sensibility. Walking into his introductory press conference a veteran writer grabbed me by the arm and said, “Another (expletive) coach, another (expletive) seven years.” He turned out to be right. Del Rio was as inconsistent with the media as Coughlin was removed. You could call it a roller coaster until we realized Jack was willing to lie, rather than just not answer the question. That’s when everybody in the media knew it was only a matter of time before he was gone. When the players realized that, his tenure came to a quick end.

His interim replacement, Mel Tucker, was a steady hand who uttered the phrase “servant leader” for the first time at the stadium and earned respect from the media right away. He was honest and likable. I’ve always thought he should get a shot as a head coach.

Even though he was only here for a year, year, the media sized up Mike Mularkey right away. I knew Mike from when he was a player at Florida and as a candidate for the Jaguars job when Del Rio was hired. I liked him immediately, and we remain friends. He had a bit of a bunker mentality during his time in Jacksonville that he couldn’t shake, and I was hoping we’d have a chance to talk about it away from the stadium. We didn’t have that chance. On the other hand, he intensely disliked some other members of the local media and let them know it without reservation. “They’re unfair,” he once told me. He was right, but that’s a battle the coach rarely wins.

You’ll never meet anybody better than Gus Bradley. I think he’s a great football coach, although his tenure as the head coach in Jacksonville doesn’t reflect anything like that. Everybody wanted Gus to win, from the players to the media, the front office staff and the fans. But I think his message was lost on a young team. He told me he disagreed with that in not so uncertain terms, but nonetheless, his Jaguars squads couldn’t create their own winning environment.

Which brings us to 2017 and Doug Marrone. While Tom Coughlin is the VP of Football Operations and has set the tone for the culture he wants, Marrone as the head coach is executing the “tougher, better” philosophy.

Sitting down with Marrone at the owners meeting, he discretely asked another journalist sitting at his table what my name was while I helped set up our equipment. He was affable, a storyteller and willing to talk about the big and small issues facing the Jaguars. We saw some of the same personality at the announcement of his hiring. As we’ve moved closer to and into OTA’s, mini-camp and training camp, Marrone is a bit more reserved, a bit more negative, perhaps a bit more realistic about who the Jaguars are at this point.

Maybe it’s a clear-eyed view of a team that won three games last year. Maybe he’s tamping down expectations. Either way, one of Marrone’s regular statements is “We have a long way to go.”

He’s still a great storyteller and very straightforward in his answers. If he’s not going to answer a question, he’ll tell you. He’s not playing music at practice and he’s upped the tempo. His old-school approach is authentic. He’s not taking orders from Coughlin; he’s a true believer in how to get a team ready to play.

“I have enough friends, I’m looking for players who can help us win,” was his response when asked about building a relationship with a player. It’s insightful if only in how different of an approach it is from the last four years. Give Marrone credit for coaching his position under Gus Bradley and never saying a thing about the overall culture, because it’s clear he believes is something very different.

“We won three games last year,” veteran defensive lineman Malik Jackson said this week. “Who are we going to complain to? If we wanted something different we needed to win more games for Gus.”

This week the Jaguars are practicing in full pads for five straight days. The collective bargaining agreement doesn’t allow two “padded” practices on the same day, something that was the norm just ten years ago. Marrone has called it a “grind,” and even veteran players agree it’s been a tough slog.

“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Marrone explained of his “toughness” approach. “Everybody’s doing it. So you’re just trying to get them in tough situations where your body might be saying no and your mind is saying yes. (I) think it’s something you have to learn how to do and that’s what we’re continuing to do. We’re learning how to do that.”

He continued, giving insight to his idea about the chain of command on a football team.

“I have a vision for it. If they don’t want to do it in that frame of reps, then we’ll keep taking reps until we get it the way we want to do it. I’ve never had a problem with that. I think that’s the responsibility that I have to make sure that we’re practicing the way we want to practice, It’s not just the way I want to practice. It’s the way we want to practice as a team and the physicality that we want in practice. If we don’t get that, then we’ll continue to stay out there until the maximum amount of time that the league allows us under the collective bargaining agreement, until I have to take them in.”

When asked “Where are they right now?” Marrone asked another question.

“Am I disappointed? No. In saying that, we still have a lot of work in front of us.”

In his fourth year in the league, Quarterback Blake Bortles knows this is his last chance with the Jaguars. A typical rookie year was followed by great improvement but last year he, and the team fell apart. The Jaguars picked up the fifth year of his rookie deal, meaning if he proves he’s the right guy in 2017, they have a bargain the next year. If not, they can move on without penalty.

Perhaps that’s given Bortles more focus in this off-season, or maybe it’s just the change in his coaching staff. Either way, the Jaguars quarterback has spent the offseason working with quarterback experts on the west coast, trying to give himself the best chance at success.

“Two years ago, I went out there and last year, I stayed here the whole time,” Blake said without mentioning that after 2016 the Jaguars asked him to stay in town and throw with the receiving group.

“It just shows that guys are sick and tired of being below average and not being successful when we feel as though we have the ability to be a good team. We haven’t been. It’s time to make a change. It’s not going to happen overnight. You have to go do something about it.”

Between the mini-camp and the beginning training camp, Bortles will be back on the west coast, continuing to work on things he thinks he needs after four weeks of work in Jacksonville.

“I think it will definitely be more specific” he said, explaining what he’ll do out there in his second visit. “In the offseason one, or whatever you want to call it — February, March April — it was mechanic-based. ‘Let’s fix this, let’s make sure this is sustainable and can remain consistent.’ Now, I’ll go out there with some more descriptive things. ‘Here’s what I felt like I struggled with footwork-wise and throwing this route. Here’s what I’d like to get better at. Here’s something that was new, I’d like to just rep it.’ I think it’ll be a bit more dialed-in.”

Drafting Leonard Fournette is supposed to signal a culture change for the Jaguars offense. More run-oriented, less reliant on Bortles being able to keep drives going with the pass. He’s on board with all of that.

“You’d like to think that if you throw the ball less, you commit less turnovers, have a higher completion percentage, all that. That’s all stuff that comes along with it. You still have to, from a quarterback perspective, still continue to make decisions and deliver the ball where it needs to be.”

And in the mini-camp, the focus was on “situational football” trying to simulate the things the team will face when the season starts. None of it is a mystery.

“We’re notorious for going three-and-out on the first possession in the past couple years that I’ve been here,” Blake said with a wry smile. “We have to stop doing that. We have to come out and find a way, from the beginning, and no matter what the situation or scenario is, to find a way to be successful and efficient.”

In order to play at the level they want, the Jaguars coaching staff believes a new level of conditioning and toughness is where to start. Head Coach Doug Marrone said it’s no secret that the Jaguars were getting beat in the 4th quarter of games last year and he wants that to stop. That’s why his version of the OTA’s and the mini-camp were particularly grueling. Bortles thought the Jaguars receivers ran more in the four weeks than they ran in the last four years. “Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Definitely. I think doing all that, getting in shape. I think it’s not necessarily something you like right now. There are some guys that aren’t happy about it. I think that’s how you create a culture and establish the way that the Jacksonville Jaguars practice.”

Almost every sports adage applies to the Jaguars at this point. They’ve been losing games and it hasn’t been fun for anybody. The Jaguars have one playoff win in the last 17 years, so a change, any kind of change would be welcome. Bortles and his teammates in this generation of Jaguars would like to change that.

“I think my goal is for us and this team and this organization is to be very successful. We haven’t for three years since I’ve been here. I think even after that happens, I don’t think anything will change. It’s what I do. It’s our job. It’s my job and my passion. I’m going to do and exhaust every resource I have to be able to make this thing work and get it rolling.”

“I consider it an activity.”

And with that, Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone ended his first OTA’s in Jacksonville, keeping what was going on over the past few weeks in perspective.

Whether he was calling it “pajamas” practice or letting players know they can be cut by not performing during the OTA’s, Marrone was setting the expectations and laying down the culture he expects the Jaguars to follow.

Practices were up-tempo. Lots of running. No breaks and no music. They took the play clock from 30 to 20 to 16 and then to 14 on both offense and defense getting the players used to making decisions quickly and efficiently.

“It’s basically a progression of tempo of trying to get up, trying to get set,” he explained. So, this way, you get yourself immune to doing those type of things and then what happens is during the course of a game, the other team is not going to put you in check-mate, where you can’t get out of it.”

When teams are practicing football, they’re not playing the game. It’s about technique and conditioning, adjusting and reacting. But Marrone is going to try and change that, giving the Jaguars more opportunities in practice where it feels “game-like.” “I think we have to get a little more situational for our players and try to help them out in those situations and spending more time that way.”

As we’ve gotten closer to training camp and Marrone has had his team on the field, he’s revealing more of what he’ll be like as the Head Coach. He’s candid and straightforward with a lot fewer smiles and jokes during his meetings with the media. He already has the training camp schedule laid out, although he might adjust it after seeing what the team needs. And training camp won’t have anything to do with how the team practices once the season starts.

“Zero. None,” he said. “It won’t even be close to what a regular week is going to be like. I’m not going to get into those schedules until late in training camp.”

I’m willing to be gladly surprised, especially if Leonard Fournette is everything the Jaguars think he is.

“He’s special, he’s special,” Jaguars VP of Football operations Tom Coughlin repeated at the podium tonight after making the pick. “We need players who can put it in the end zone. This guy can do that.”

With the 4th pick, the Jaguars took virtually no time to select Fournette, a 6′ 240 lb. running back from LSU. I liked Solomon Thomas but he was gone. They said they didn’t consider trading down (“We knew if they hadn’t called already, they weren’t going to” according to GM Dave Caldwell.)

They had Fournette as the next highest rated player along with safety Jamal Adams, also from LSU but Coughlin said, “We need playmakers.” (They also liked Myles Garrett and Thomas who were taken 1st and 3rd this year)

Over and over, first GM Dave Caldwell then Head Coach Doug Marrone and finally Coughlin used the word “physical.” They like how Fournette can be a physical player at the point of attack but also can get downfield when necessary.

“He’s powerful and can step on the gas when necessary,” according to TC.

“It puts a lot of spotlight on the offensive line,” Marrone said when asked about running behind the current Jaguars O-Line. “One can help the other. We had a lot of information on Leonard. How he ran in track, baseball. We knew a lot about him”

With so many questions about the Jaguars offensive line going into 2017, it’s legitimate to wonder how he’ll produce if the guys up front aren’t what the Jaguars brass are hoping they become. Marrone addressed that, kind of, saying, “We need to be physical. We need to practice like that and more importantly, we need to play that way.”

Physical is one of the first things Caldwell said about Fournette when explaining the selection process. “Us being physical, being able to run the ball, take some pressure off the quarterback.”

But Fournette takes exception to the thought that he’s a “pounder” and not elusive. “I ran track, I can run, (just over 21 seconds in the 200). When it gets on the field (his speed) it surprises a lot of people.”

When asked what would be a successful rookie season, Fournette said, “A Super Bowl,” without a hint of sarcasm. But it was clear listening to and watching him that he was thinking about team goals before any individual goals. “It’s a long process, visiting all those teams. I’m glad to have a new home and a new family.”

And regarding the Jaguars leadership, Fournette said Odell Beckham, Jr. clued him in when he was with the Giants. “I know Coach Coughlin don’t play no games. Odell told me that.”

So Coughlin stuck to his mantra of “Take the best player available” and was able to fulfill a need at the same time. “You got it,” he told me when I presented that scenario. Tom didn’t have to break any deadlocks since Garrett and Thomas were taken in front of the Jaguars and “getting the ball in the end zone” was clearly a priority over safety.

Asked to compare Fournette to Fred Taylor, the ninth overall pick in a Coughlin draft, Tom said, “The one thing they both did is put it in the end zone. That’s what we need.”

For all the changes the Jaguars have made on the team and the administration for 2017, one thing remains the same: No real information from the pre-draft luncheon.

At least this year it was a bit of a cat-and-mouse game between Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, Head Coach Doug Marrone, General Manager Dave Caldwell and the assembled media. It was clear they had decided before they stepped into the West Club what they were, and weren’t going to say.

To emphasize that point, when Coughlin was asked what he expected from the 4th pick in next week’s draft he had a quick and clipped response.

“We feel like we’re going to get a good football player.”

So it was more of a “feel” thing being in the same room with the three men charged with running the Jaguars football organization. Being there, seeing their body language and hearing their answers showed that Shad Khan’s idea that these three could work together seems to be developing. It’s not wholly there, but it’s developing.

No question Coughlin is in charge. Marrone is splitting his time between coaching, now that the players are in town, and sitting in on draft meetings. Caldwell is still scouting and evaluating, learning as much as he can about the players available but he understands his won’t be the final vote. That belongs to TC.

“It’s been a very good exchange throughout all of the preparations,” Coughlin explained. “Lots of things have been discussed and, by in large, we’ve agreed on the assessment of the players along the way, with the exception of one or two along the way.”

“There’s a lot more dialogue,” Caldwell added. “There’s a lot more good discussion between, with Tom, being able to bounce things off of him. Doug’s involvement, Doug’s been pretty involved up until this week since the players came back. I think the process has been the same and the involvement and the discussion has been different. It’s been good dialogue, too.”

Give Caldwell credit for giving this a go. He could have up and quit but this opportunity at this point in his career looks to be a good fit. He noted that Coughlin joined a 16-month process 12-months into it, so Caldwell hasn’t had to change much.

They seem to agree that the spot they’re in gives them a lot of flexibility, so they’re trying to anticipate what might happen on draft day and what they value in each round.

“All of the different scenarios that go along with the draft,” Coughlin said about preparing for next week. “You just have to be ready for that.”

As far as trading down out of the 4th spot. They didn’t dismiss the idea.

“That depends on the year,” Caldwell explained. “We had an opportunity last year to move down and we obviously decided to take Jalen (Ramsey). It depends on who’s there and what the talent is in the top four or five picks. There may be some teams that have specific needs and are willing to come up.”

But to get up to the 4th spot is an expensive proposition that a lot of teams can’t afford. That’s why you don’t see that kind of trade on draft day happen often. Coughlin says it’s tough for teams to part with enough to move into the top five.

At the 4th spot, they Jaguars have a pretty good idea about what might happen in front of them. If they trade down, a lot of different things could happen.

“It seems like there are a lot of opportunities,” Coughlin said, drawing on his experience. “Depending on where you draft – say you are in the middle, there is more of a tendency for something to happen in front of you that you didn’t expect there, but there seems to be, from my experience, in every draft, there is something that happens that (makes you say), ‘Wow, where did that one come from?’ You have to be prepared for that.”

Early in his tenure as Head Coach and General Manager of the Jaguars, Coughlin selected quarterback Rob Johnson out of Southern Cal even though the Jaguars didn’t need a quarterback. He was simply the best player on the board and he couldn’t pass him up. That seems to still be Tom’s mantra: Take the best player available.

“I think that’s what you want,” he said. “You have to be disciplined to do that anyway. You want to take the best available player, particularly in the first three rounds. And that’s the way over the years, with consistency, rosters have been improved.”

Which is where the Jaguars find themselves right now.

It doesn’t matter where Jaguars Head Coach Doug Marrone is or who’s asking the question. The question is always the same: “What about Blake Bortles?”

At the AFC Coaches breakfast at the NFL’s annual meeting in Phoenix, Marrone was asked about Bortles in every way possible. And he stuck by his answer: Blake is the Jaguars quarterback.

“The relationship with head coach and quarterback is important,” he said in front of a group of reporters gathered around his table. “We’ll set some goals. He’s our quarterback. No different than any other position. You have to earn the respect of your teammates and earn a roster spot.”

With Marrone and VP of Football Operations Tom Coughlin preaching competition, it is interesting that they’ve done that at every position but quarterback. Pointing out that Brandon Allen and Chad Henne are still on the roster, Marrone said that will create competition but he doesn’t believe Bortles is the type of player who needs to be pushed.

“He puts a lot of pressure on himself. He’s able to stand up and be consistent. A lot of people wouldn’t know what’s that like, constantly being asked ‘Why aren’t you playing well, why aren’t you winning.'”

In the final two weeks of the 2016 season with Marrone as the interim head coach, Bortles seemed to settle down and play better. While he won’t take credit for that, Doug does say he changed the focus for his quarterback, giving him options to keep a play, series or drive going without taking chances. That seemed to allow Bortles to take some pressure off himself. “You appreciate that but as a coach you have to manage it,” Marrone explained of the expectations some players have of themselves. “You have to be smart, check the ball down, sometimes he puts a lot of pressure on himself to make a play and sometimes that play’s just not there.”

Not to say Doug doesn’t want players who have high expectations. Especially for themselves.

“The players that you want are the players who compete against themselves,” he added. “Those are the kind you want. I don’t think anyone on our team has a sense of ease.”

That uneasiness comes from the culture that Marrone and Tom Coughlin are changing around the organization. Their long-standing relationship is one of the things owner Shad Khan pointed to as why the new management structure on the Jaguars is working, along with GM Dave Caldwell. Marrone is pretty comfortable with the way things are.

“I know that from when I was a very young coach I’ve always looked up to Coach Coughlin,” he said. “When I was the head coach at Syracuse I relied on him quite a bit about culture, philosophy, dealing with coaches, dealing with players, without a partnership. He’s helped me grow so much as a coach.”

“I know I’m the head coach and I’m going to run this team but I have the greatest situation in the world, he continued. “I have someone who’s aligned with me philosophically. I tell him all the time, ‘By the time you’re done with me, I’ll have sucked every bit of information out of your brain.’ To have somebody to walk ten feet into his office and ask ‘Is there a better way to do this’ I just think is outstanding.” As they go about reshaping the Jaguars inside and out, Marrone says it’s not a mystery why certain teams win and others can’t.

“There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “When you look at teams that haven’t won, the same things pop up. Mental toughness, not being able to finish games. We want to create structure, discipline. You have to train mental and physical toughness. You have to experience adversity.”

When the regular carousel of coaching changes started happening right after the regular season, Marrone was named as a possibility for several other franchises. But he stayed in Jacksonville, partly because of his two years already here. Not necessarily on the Jaguars, but living in town, getting to know the people. He believes the team should take on the personality of it’s own community.

“I love these types of challenges. I was able to live in the community, you get to see the passion and the disappointment. When we come in as a coaching staff and as players, we have a chance to change that. And do it in a way that reflects the community. The community is a group of hard-working people. We have to reflect the people in the community who get up and go to work everyday and build something.”

Calling on his experience helping rebuild the Saints after Hurricane Katrina battered New Orleans, Marrone says there has to be a connection between the fans and the team. When the Saints finally returned to the Superdome, he looked into the stands before the opening kickoff and saw people crying.

“That’s when I started to realize what type of effect a football team can have on a town or a region. I’m not going to compare our situation to that but I want our fans to have that pride again to wear the Jaguars logo.”

In another offseason full of changes and the remaking of the roster, again, skeptics are everywhere around a team that looked like it had so much promise a year ago. And for the new head coach, that means even at home.

“My son’s friends, they want to know everything. You want to talk about being prepared to talk to reporters?” he said with a big laugh. “Try talking to a bunch of 13-year-old kids! ‘Why are we going after this guy? What are we doing?’ They have no filter. Even my son “What are we doin’ Dad?” And my wife asks, “Do you know what you’re doing? Are you sure?”

All good questions that will only start to be answered in September.

It didn’t take long for Tom Coughlin to identify one change the Jaguars needed to make.

“We need a culture change. People need to know your goals when they walk in the door,” the Jaguars VP of Football Operations said at the NFL Owners meeting in Phoenix on Monday. “We have to define it, let everybody know what it is and how we reinforce it and how you’re going to be judged.”

Already the Jaguars roster has a distinct Coughlin look: bigger, more veterans, more competition. All by design given Tom’s success in the past both in Jacksonville and New York.

“You have to. It puts the players in a position of competiveness right off the bat. If they player’s young and wants to see how he matches up, he might be able to contribute.”

In his three months in charge of the football team, Coughlin has insisted on competition across the board: except at quarterback. He is giving Blake Bortles a chance to be the starter based on what he’s see in Bortles whole body of work since coming out of UCF.

“We think he’s the player. We believe that. Who knows?” he explained. But he did give himself and out, saying the draft could present some interesting options with the 4th pick.

“If there’s a quarterback there we’d have to think about it. Competition is good for everybody,” he noted.

With the fourth selection in this year’s draft, the Jaguars will have about every option you could expect. Defensive line, defensive backfield, quarterback, running back, you name it. But Coughlin’s experience in the league has told him that the first round might extend through the fourth pick, but maybe not much further.

“People have a misconception about the draft. The first round is not 32 players long,” he said, spreading his hands apart like a yardstick. ” You’re going to take your pencil out at some point and say, ‘the first round ends right here.’ Where we’re picking there are a number of good players.”

More than thirty years in the league has given t Tom a perspective and a lot of contacts he tries to take advantage of to help his team. At these meetings, he’s networking with people he’s worked with, including those in the NFL office. It’s no surprise that he’s well versed on the full agenda over the three days here.

“I try to take it all in, I try to talk to a lot of different people. I want to be abreast of all of the proposals and rule changes.”

To listen to Coughlin talk now about leadership and motivation and to have worked with him when he first became the head coach of the Jaguars shows a development in message and style. He’s believes he’s in the right situation at this stage of his career, and being at these meetings energizes him.

“I’ve been in the league a long time. I have some people I rely on for information. It’s what we talk about all the time. You better keep learning.”

For nearly nine hours on Saturday, we debated the merits of two contributors, one senior and 15 “modern era” candidates and their worthiness for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. As my fellow selectors have said, it’s a complicated process. We’re to consider only what happened on the field during the careers of the players eligible. Where the field starts and stops is a debatable question. Statistics help, but if it was just about stats, they could feed them into a computer and let some accountants say who gets in and who doesn’t.

But it’s more than that and that’s why it’s complicated. In my 23rd year on the committee I was asked to present a player to the assembled media for the first time. I was honored to do so with such a talented player to present as Tony Boselli.

I’m including much of what I talked to the committee about here as well as some thoughts on Tony’s chances to eventually be selected to the Hall in the future.

Anytime anybody talks about Boselli and the Hall, the first question, and usually the only question is about the brevity of his career. But the perception is that Tony played a few years but actually he played seven seasons in the league. Ninety-one regular season games plus six starts in the playoffs.

The varying length of seasons, 12 before 1960, 14 from 1961-1977 and 16 since 1977 makes comparing “games played” a good measuring stick.

Players who played about a modern 16-game season more than Boselli who are in the Hall of Fame include:

Lynn Swann 116
Earl Campbell 115
Dwight Stephenson 114
Kellen Winslow 109
Paul Hornung 109

In addition to the two players we discussed on Saturday, Kenny Easley and Terrell Davis, there are 30 players with less than 100 games played are already in the Hall including:

Gale Sayers, Dick Stanfel, Doak Walker, and Cliff Battles.

In terms of performance, Boselli was a dominant player in the era of his career, He shut down celebrated Hall of Famer Bruce Smith, the 1996 Defensive Player of the Year in the ’96 playoffs, holding him to 3 innocuous tackles and no sacks in a 30-27 Jaguars win in Buffalo.

He shut down Jason Taylor on national television on a Monday night, another finalist in 2017 who was elected to the Hall. Taylor said last week, “Boselli beat me down on a Monday night. An epic beat down. Surprising it didn’t knock me into retirement.”

And closed down Derrick Thomas, a story best told by Phil Simms.

“Thomas had 6 sacks the week before for the Chiefs and were facing the Jaguars the following week. I was doing the game for CBS and in the production meeting prior I asked Coughlin how he was going to slow down Derrick Thomas: Double teams, chip him, whatever. Coughlin said, “I’m going to put my guy Tony Boselli over here. They’re going to line up their guy Derrick Thomas, and we will let them go one on one, then we’ll see who wins that battle!” I remember thinking, ‘That’s trouble for Jacksonville. No way is anyone going to match up against Derrick Thomas. As we broadcast the game the next day, Tony Boselli dominated Derrick Thomas from start to finish. For the period he played in, Tony Boselli was as dominating an offensive linemen that I have ever seen.”

That’s just one of the testimonials from former players and coaches who believe Tony belongs in Canton.

The man who drafted and coached him and went on to win two Super Bowls in New York, Tom Coughlin said, “Tony was simply the best offensive tackle in the game throughout his career. I never had to worry that his guy would make a play. Ever.”

Celebrated NFL personnel expert Gil Brandt said, “He’s in that same category with Willie Roaf and Anthony Munoz and Jonathan Ogden and Walter Jones – he’s equal to all those guys. If you put all of those guys up you’d have a hard time deciding who you were going to take number one.”

Many long-time football watchers consider Anthony Munoz the greatest tackle of all-time. Munoz said, “My opinion, after watching Tony Boselli play during his NFL career, is that he is one of the best offensive tackles I have observed.”

And even Willie Roaf, a contemporary of Tony’s and a member of the Hall of Fame said, “I would always watch film of other players at my position. Even though I had two years on him, he was someone I would watch and gauge my game after.”

Perhaps being a good teammate counts in this process, so talking to his teammates, to a man they said he had no peer. Boselli made the guys around him better through his play and work ethic.

I asked Mark Brunell, who said Boselli was easily the best player on the Jaguars, if Boselli was the best football player he’d ever played with. The 19-year veteran and teammate of Boselli for Tony’s entire career said “I wouldn’t say Tony was better than Brett Favre, Reggie White or Drew Brees, but those are the guys he’s in the conversation with.”

He was the sheriff on those teams as well, and its no coincidence that when the Jaguars were relevant when it came to the post season it was during Boselli’s career. They went to the post-season four times in his first five seasons and twice played in the AFC Championship game.

You could call the era Boselli played in the “Golden Age of Tackles” in the NFL. Willie Roaf, Jonathan Ogden, Walter Jones, Orlando Pace, and Tony Boselli. Joe Jacoby is still on the Hall of Fame ballot and his career started in 1981. There might not be another tackle for 10 years who get consideration for the Hall among the current group. Perhaps Joe Thomas and possibly Tyron Smith 15 years from now. So we’re talking about a special time from 1992 when Roaf came into the league and until Pace retired in 2009; all five of their careers were included in that time span. Tony Boselli played from 1995-2002.

Statically, Tony compares favorably with all of those HOF’ers. Gil Brandt’s statistical analysis of sacks allowed, yards rushing and other hard number show Boselli’s as an equal or above those other four.

In terms of accolades, Boselli was All rookie 1995, All Pro three times, 4 if you count the 1996 selection by Sports Illustrated and played in 5 pro bowls. He was named All-Decade first team of the 90’s at Tackle despite only playing five years in the decade and one was his rookie year. He passes the eye test. If you saw him play, you knew you were watching a special talent. Gary Zimmerman was the other All Decade Tackle, Willie Roaf was second team. Every other offensive first-team All Decade Player of the ’90’s we’ve elected to the Hall.

Everybody I talked to from Boselli’s era agreed that he was Hall of Fame material during his playing career. The brevity of his career, 97 games, should be viewed in its perspective. It wasn’t so brief after all. There are now 32 of the 265 players in the Hall who have less than 100 games played.

What’s changed for Tony is the selection of Terrell Davis to the Class of 2017. If the selection committee was willing to look past Davis having played only 78 games it helps Boselli’s chances exponentially.

As I mentioned, it’s a complicated process. In 2018, three players, Ray Lewis, Brian Urlacher and Randy Moss are eligible for the first time. Are they all first-ballot Hall of Famers? If so, that will leave two spots for 12 players. In 2019 Ed Reed, Tony Gonzalez and Champ Bailey will be eligible. Sometimes it’s a slotting process, sometimes, as it was this year with LaDanian Tomlinson, the player’s greatness dictates that he be selected as soon as he becomes eligible.

I thought Tony had a 50-50 shot at getting in this year and the fact that he advanced to the final 10 proved me right. But the committee surprised me by selecting Jason Taylor in his first year of eligibility. Tony’s domination of Taylor is one of his credentials for admittance to the Hall. Nobody argues Boselli’s greatness. At some point I believe he’ll be wearing a gold jacket. When that is, as difficult as the process is, as I’ve said, is hard to predict.

Since there is a “Win Now” philosophy among most NFL owners, what’s become known as “Black Monday” in the league has become a very intriguing and fluid day. What was true an hour ago might have flipped the other way by now.

What’s different in 2016 than in other years is the number of “hot” candidates will have their choice of jobs so the Jaguars will be in competition with other teams for the top candidates. Any head-coaching job in the NFL is an elite spot but coaching candidates will look at the rosters and the team ownership and figure out where they can win quickly and sustain that.

There are several reasons the Jaguars head-coaching job is attractive, not the least is the patience Owner Shad Khan has shown since buying the team five years ago. He wasn’t happy with the advice he got in 2012 so he quickly changed the team’s management and committed to a complete rebuild. It’s that kind of patience that will be attractive to a lot of coaches although doubtful Khan will wait four more years for a winner.

With just 15 wins in the past four seasons, Khan isn’t happy with where the Jaguars are now, but is the type of owner who will listen to the candidates to get their ideas on why the Jaguars aren’t winning. Personnel? Coaching? Discipline? Quarterback? All of those played a part in the Jaguars disappointing 3-13 finish. Khan has “charged” General Manager Dave Caldwell with finding a new coach but the owner will be part of the process.

Looking at the criteria, Caldwell has said head coaching experience will be helpful but not necessary for the next leader of the Jaguars. Someone who can create a “winning culture” is how the Jaguars GM termed it two weeks ago. And somebody who can either fix or move on from Blake Bortles will be part of the equation. Caldwell has said he’s open to all kinds of opinions about the Jaguars quarterback. Former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin checks a lot of those boxes but apparently last week Coughlin and the Jaguars couldn’t find enough common ground to have him join the organization so both parties have moved on.

The Other Candidates:

1) Josh McDaniels, Offensive Coordinator, New England Patriots. McDaniels has done wonders in New England but his quarterback, Tom Brady, is among those in the discussion for greatest of all time. McDaniels would be interested in the Jaguars if he thinks Blake Bortles is the answer or if there’s a quarterback either as a veteran free agent signing or in the upcoming draft that can make the Jaguars offense go. He wouldn’t have to worry about the defense, especially if he brings in a coordinator he trusts. His tenure at Denver as the head coach ended unceremoniously and his personality rubbed the entire organization the wrong way. He drafted Tim Tebow so he thinks he can fix flaws in any quarterback.

2) Harold Goodwin, Offensive Coordinator, Arizona Cardinals. Goodwin has been the Coordinator for the Cardinals since 2013 and has also been a coach for the Bears, Steeler and Colts. Not having head coaching experience could work against him but his offense in Arizona with Bruce Arians as the head coach and Carson Palmer at quarterback has been potent during his tenure. He also fulfills the NFL’s “Rooney Rule” of interviewing minority candidates for head coaching vacancies.

3) Mike Smith, Defensive Coordinator, Tampa Bay Bucs. Smith was very successful in Atlanta but was fired by one of Caldwell’s mentors, Thomas Dimitrioff. Perhaps a change of scenery was needed in Atlanta as they are the #2 seed in the NFL in 2016 but Smith was there for the initial development of Matt Ryan. As a former defensive coordinator for the Jaguars under Jack Del Rio, Smith is familiar with Jacksonville and was a very popular figure while he was here. If he thinks Bortles is fixable and perhaps current Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett is on the right path, he would be an easy fit, even keeping most of the current staff. They’re all still under contract for 2017.

There will be other names bandied about including Kyle Shanahan, the offensive coordinator in Atlanta. He reportedly has an interview with the Jaguars among other teams this week. His most natural landing spot is in Denver where his father coached, he knows John Elway and Gary Kubiak just resigned. Anthony Lynn will also get consideration but he’s most likely to stay in Buffalo and reportedly would like Gus Bradley as his defensive coordinator with the Bills.

While the fire is still there, the approach is a little different for Tom Coughlin.

“The way to great leadership starts with service to others,” the former Jaguars and Giants Head Coach and now Jaguars Executive Vice President of Football Operations said when he was introduced. That’s a departure from his former self where “top down” management was his hallmark.

Not to say Coughlin won’t still set the top and make the decisions, but his “modern day” philosophy of motivation and leadership is updated from his first stint here.

“Tom Coughlin will be the dominant personality in the building, long-time Jaguars reporter Cole Pepper said. “But he’s updated his leadership style a bit. It’ll be interesting to see how he works with the other two (Doug Marrone and Dave Caldwell).

Quoting Pablo Casals, Coughlin said he wanted to follow the great cellist’s example of “getting better each day.”

Marrone might have a different style but carries the same philosophy when it comes to leadership. “I try to win every day. You have to earn the right to win every day,” he said, which coincidentally is the title of Coughlin’s’ second book.

“He’s my mentor,” Marrone said after the press conference. “It’ll be great to have him right down the hall, only feet away to pick his brain when I need to.”

It became apparent to Owner Shad Khan after talking to Coughlin about a role with the team that Marrone was a serious candidate. “Tom gave me two names that he could work with, that he thought were good coaches, and Doug was one of them,” he said. “I didn’t know how close their connection was until I talked to Doug about working with Tom and he said, ‘That’d be fantastic.’

“I have a vested interest in the success of the Jaguars in Florida,” said Coughlin. “When people come together as a team only then do you have a chance to win” he said in his opening statement. But it wasn’t until the questioning started that Tom’s fire started to blaze.

When asked if the focus would shift to winning, Marrone started to talk about that being the goal and that’s what they were trying to do.

“If we’re not here to win, what the hell are we here for!” Coughlin said, interrupting and causing a big laugh from the assembled media and guests.

Quick to point out that in his two years here he had “felt the pain” Jaguars fans have felt with losing football, Marrone sent a message to his players.

“Our players should be working right now.”

“This is the role I anticipated and wanted at this point in my career.” And although he had said in the past he wanted to coach again, Coughlin said that this role, with input across the organization, is what he anticipated at this point in his career. But he was clear about the path the Jaguars will be taking.

“There’s no easy way to success,” he said. “Mr. Khan’s story is the great American dream. I’m thrilled to be back. Team above all else.”

It’s no surprise that the Jaguars are restructuring the top of their football operation after five years of Shad Khan’s ownership. Khan is a good listener and makes moves that will enhance his organizations (businesses) and their opportunities to be successful. After his first year of ownership, Khan had spend $60 million on three free agents and asked rhetorically, “What did I get for that? Two wins.” So he made a move, away from his “football people” Gene Smith and Mike Mularkey, and started anew. Khan likes to hire “the best” as he has said repeatedly, so adding Tom Coughlin to the Jaguars mix on the football side is no surprise.

Two weeks ago Coughlin talked with Khan and others at the top of the Jaguars organization about the head-coaching job but didn’t find enough common ground to make that move. But Coughlin has said for the past year that he’d be interested in being a part of the Jaguars, “maybe in another role.” Now, he’ll have a lot to say about the success of the Jaguars as their Vice President of Football Operations. It’s a new job for the Jaguars but not uncommon in the league.

What the Jaguars haven’t confirmed is how Coughlin, General Manager Dave Caldwell and Head Coach Doug Marrone will work together. Reports are that both Marrone and Caldwell will report to Coughlin, but how much the decision-making ends with any of those jobs has yet to be announced. Knowing Coughlin, he’ll have plenty of input and probably the final say.

Which means that Caldwell needed to sign off on Coughlin joining the team and getting a two-year extension through 2019 mollified his acceptance. Marrone also had so sign off on being the head coach with a strong personality like Coughlin in the building, weighing in on his performance.

When I originally heard that the Jaguars had offered Doug Marrone the head-coaching job last Saturday night I said I had been impressed with Marrone, more than I expected to be, in his performance as the interim head coach of the Jaguars. He was a steady hand for the team and still a loyal lieutenant to the deposed Gus Bradley. He changed “a few things that I’m comfortable with” as the head coach, like meeting times and his availability, but he gave plenty of credit to Bradley when the Jaguars beat Tennessee on Christmas Eve.

Not knowing whether he’d even be a candidate for the head coaching job in Jacksonville, Marrone gave us a hint in his post game remarks after the loss in Indianapolis about what he thinks needs to be fixed with the current Jaguars roster.

“With this team the players will have to understand the pressure we need to put on them as coaches in practice during the week,” Marrone said after reviewing the game. “We have to force them as coaches to be accountable for that so they have the ability to go out here on Sunday and win games.”

He was also realistic about what happened in Indy as a microcosm of the entire season.

“You can’t make the mistakes that we made today and expect to go out there and win the game.”

And another glimpse into his thought process was the comment,

“I told the players at halftime, (when the Jaguars were winning 17-3) you either are either going to be the hunter or the hunted. You’ve got to learn how to hunt.” The Jaguars have said the formal announcement of the new management structure and the introduction of Coughlin and Marrone will happen on Thursday at 10 AM.

It appears the Jaguars and Tom Coughlin have decided in this case, “you can’t go home again.” Although there are conflicting signals, including Coughlin quoted as saying “If it’s the right fit” he’d be interested, at this point the Jaguars are looking elsewhere.

Whether it was the team or Coughlin or both, they couldn’t find enough common ground when it comes to a role Tom would occupy in the Jaguars management structure. All along, Coughlin was never going to just be a “candidate.” He was either going to be their head coach or he wasn’t instead of just one of the possibilities.

A reported meeting on Wednesday included Tom and some of the Jaguars brass, but it’s unclear whether General Manager Dave Caldwell was present. Either way, the two sides apparently have moved on at this point, only to return to the discussion if something drastically changes.

Having hired an executive search firm, the team will vet their findings as well as lean on Caldwell’s contacts and experience in the NFL. Having worked for Bill Polian in Indianapolis and Thomas Dimitrioff in Atlanta, Caldwell is well connected in the league and said he would use his “personal network” as a resource when looking for a new head coach.

While not necessary, according to Caldwell, the Jaguars general manager said past head coaching experience would be a plus in his search. He also was emphatic about creating a “winning culture” from the players the Jaguars currently have in their locker room.

It was pretty much business as usual for Interim Head Coach Doug Marrone’s first conference call after leading the Jaguars to victory last Saturday. He still deflected any credit for the win, saying the players made the difference.

“The players went out and did well, if they didn’t would that be a reflection of me?” he asked rhetorically. “I’ve been a head coach before. I’m still focused on the players and the assistant coaches here.”

As a candidate for the permanent position with the Jaguars, Marrone seems to be an afterthought. But could he be a serious candidate if they win again next week? He still doesn’t see these two weeks as an audition.

“No matter what happens here, at least they can go forward, with a good idea of what can happen here in the future,” he said.

Whether watching it live or reviewing the game video, it’s pretty obvious that the difference in the Jaguars was the play of quarterback Blake Bortles. He made the routine throws; he made quick decision, just played like he was supposed to have played all year.

“For Blake it’s probably his best game of the season.” Marrone said. “He got off to a good start. Got ARod involved early. Overall, outstanding, taking what the defense was giving him. Very impressed.”

Was there a difference? Did they do something that made things better? Or is it just coincidence that Bortles and Allen Robinson as well as the whole offense played their best game of the year the week after Gus Bradley was fired? Marrone admitted they moved Robinson around to some different positions on the line of scrimmage but that was about it.

“I can’t answer how they were feeling but we did try to make an effort during the week to get a couple of extra throws in. We wanted to keep the communication happening.”

So why did the Jaguars as a whole play better? Marrone couldn’t answer that except to give credit to the players and how they approached the game. No different than any other according to the guy temporarily in charge.

“I think there were times that we put the ball on the ground and had penalties we wound up being fortunate,” he explained. “They felt comfortable with the plan and how we wanted to attack the Titans. I saw a level of focus that when we took the field that we had goals in mind and how to do them.”

As simple as that I suppose, but when it comes right down to it, your team goes as your quarterback goes in the NFL. If Bortles had played close to this way all year, the Jaguars would be one of the teams “in the hunt” for a playoff spot.

Some credit is due Marrone for keeping a steady hand during the week, tweaking a few things but getting the staff and the players ready to play a football game. He might have a bit of a self-deprecating manner about his role, but his actions set the tone for the team and allowed them to play.

On some specific notes, Doug said it was good play calling by both Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and Bortles that kept the Titans guessing. “The NFL is about trying to stay a step ahead. If you’re having success with a play, they’re going to make an adjustment and take that away.”

And that both Dante Fowler and Yannick Ngakoue are coming along.

“It’s one of the more difficult situations for young defensive ends coming into the league. You can out-athletic or out-physical people in college. In the NFL, tackles are bigger, more athletic, have more patience. Quarterbacks get rid of the ball quicker.”

On the offensive line, he pointed to right tackle Jeremy Parnell as a player who’s lifting his game at the end of the year.

“The last three games we’ve played, Parnell has had the best three games he’s played since he’s been here. AJ has had some inconsistency in pass protection but had his most physical game. We feel pretty good about the direction they’re going.”

But he saved his most effusive praise for Jalen Ramsey saying he probably hasn’t come close to as good as he’ll be.

“I have been around some very good corners, Pro Bowl type players. Ramsey has everything you want, for me; the thing I’ve been most impressed with is his competitiveness. I see someone who goes out there who’s extremely competitive and wants to get the job done. There’s no ceiling to his ability.”

As the 2016 season progressed, it became obvious that Gus Bradley’s philosophy of empowering the players with the accountability and discipline of the team wasn’t working on the current Jaguars. Gus is about as good a guy as you’ll ever meet. You’d want him as a brother, a brother in law, a neighbor and even as a football coach. But as a head coach for this Jaguars team this year, his message didn’t take. “We let you down,” Jaguars Defensive Tackle Roy Miller tweeted Sunday night after Bradley was let go.

Each time we’d ask Gus about his job security, he’d deflect the question, saying he wasn’t worried about that. “He’s wrong,” ESPN’s Mike DiRocco said when we talked about that issue on Jaguars Friday Night. And while Owner Shad Khan saw changing coaches in-season as a sign of organization weakness, he and General Manager Dave Caldwell came to the conclusion last week that they were ready to move on from the Bradley era of the Jaguars.

“Gus and I have a unique relationship and I couldn’t lie to him,” Caldwell said of the timing of the announcement. He added that once he and Khan had made the decision on Saturday, they didn’t think it would be fair to tell Bradley before the game with the Texans. Caldwell says he followed Bradley into his locker room in Houston and told him they were moving on. He did give Gus the option of delaying the announcement until Monday but Bradley said he’d call his family and to get it out Sunday night. Bradley did board the bus and was on the team charter returning to Jacksonville. He thanked the staff, the coaches and the players as he made his way up and down the isles on the charter. Everybody involved seemed to be trying to make the best of a messy, clumsy, awkward situation.

Monday afternoon, Caldwell addressed the media and talked about the change as well as named Offensive Line Coach Doug Marrone as interim head coach for the Jaguars. Marrone is the former head coach for two years in Buffalo and at his alma mater Syracuse. He’s been the Assistant Head Coach for the Jaguars since 2015.

Beyond that, Caldwell will be the one starting the search for a new head coach and hiring the next leader of the team. Just where he’ll look is the big question. He said today that experience will play a role in his selection process.

“I don’t want to say that it’s a high priority, but I would say it’s something that would be helpful for a coach,” Caldwell said from the podium at the stadium. “I don’t want to avoid a candidate if he doesn’t have it because you can be overlooking a great future head coach. Experience is critical, even with our players. Our players are young, but they may lack experience in certain areas and I think experience is invaluable.”

When asked if former Jaguars Head Coach Tom Coughlin would be on his list, Caldwell quickly said, “Tom Coughlin is somebody we’d be interested in talking to.”

Some obvious names will percolate to the top of the list along with Coughlin: Josh McDaniels the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots and former head coach in Denver. Mike Smith, the former Head Coach in Atlanta, former defensive coordinator in Jacksonville and now the DC in Tampa. Todd Haley, the offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh, David Shaw, the current head coach at Stanford and Sean Payton, the Head Coach of the Saints, rumored to be out in New Orleans. Several NFL assistants will make the list, including Kyle Shanahan.

Names like Hall of Famer Tony Dungy and John Gruden will also be floated, but neither is likely to coach in the NFL again. Dungy is a mentor and advisor as well as a TV analyst these days and Gruden is having too much fun on ESPN and making too much money. Bill Cowher would be an excellent choice and if all it takes is money, Shad will offer it to him. But Cowher has turned down lucrative head coaching jobs in the past and said on Sunday on CBS when asked if he’d be interested in the Los Angeles job that he wouldn’t be coaching in the NFL again.

If Coughiin does want to coach again, the Jaguars would be a good choice if he would be willing to accept a role as the Head Coach with some personnel input but the decisions ending with Caldwell. The Jaguars spoke to Coughlin about a role other than head coach prior to this season but couldn’t find enough common ground. If Caldwell calls him, they’ll meet and try to solidify a relationship. I doubt there will be an interview process. He’ll either be offered the job or they’ll move on. Tom’s resume is well documented and contains two Lombardi Trophies. At 70 years old, a return to the sideline would also delay Coughlin’s eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. There’s a five-year waiting period after retirement until eligibility.

After being fired in Denver, McDaniels went back to New England where he’s had plenty of success with Tom Brady. But he was disliked in Denver, which precipitated his firing and Tom Brady is, well, Tom Brady. If Blake Bortles were in Dave Caldwell’s plans for the Jaguars future, McDaniels would have to buy into that. In fact, that will be the first discussion Caldwell has with any potential head-coaching candidate: Do you think Blake Bortles is fixable?

Knowing Jacksonville well and a very popular figure here, Mike Smith could be an interesting choice for Caldwell. The downside is he’s a defensive coach and the Jaguars are hurting on offense more than anything. Smith’s charisma might overcome that as well as his track record in Atlanta. Since Caldwell worked for Thomas Dimitrioff, the GM in Atlanta, he’ll find out why he fired Smith and if he thought Smith would be a good fit here. His candidacy could soar to the top or be stopped by that one conversation.

As the quarterback Blake Bortles is most compared to, Ben Roethlisberger has enjoyed tremendous success under Todd Haley’s direction. Haley has been a head coach in the league in Kansas City and has stepped up Roethlisberger’s production since going to Pittsburgh and could be considered a good fit to work with Bortles.

If Caldwell is willing to go into the college coaching ranks, and he said as much today, Shaw from Stanford is on everybody’s list. A winner with a football pedigree, he’ll get a head coaching job in the league if he wants one.

Sean Payton would free up about $40 million for the Saints as they go through an ownership transition. Caldwell would have to part with a draft pick to sign Payton but since he has a record of success, is on the Bill Parcell’s coaching tree and has worked with successful quarterbacks like Drew Brees, he might be a possibility. Caldwell said he’d be willing to trade for a coach if the right coach was available.

After January 1st, the final day of the NFL season, several current coaches will be on the market. There will be talk about John Fox in Chicago, Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati and Mike McCoy in San Diego. All could be interviewed for head coaching jobs, maybe even here in Jacksonville.

And to be sure, Caldwell will be making the decision.

“Shad, he has made it very clear that he expects big things from me and this coaching search, me and our staff for our free agency and the draft, to have a great offseason and then to have a better season come 2017,” the Jaguars GM explained. “I haven’t had to sell him or anything, but we have constant conversation about, hey, I’ll be the first to admit where I’ve made mistakes. And I’ve laid it out to Shad different places where I failed Gus, some things you guys don’t even know about, but some that you do. There was no selling. Shad just said, hey, I expect big things.”

There’s no rush to name a head coach, but moving on from Bradley with still two games to play means Caldwell wanted to talk with somebody who’s not in the league at this moment. The Rams’ firing of Jeff Fisher “got the ball rolling,” in the process according to Caldwell. The last thing Caldwell wanted to do was to have Coughlin at the top of his list and Tom take the job in Los Angeles without ever having talked with him.

Although he said there are no “untouchables” on the Jaguars, including himself, Caldwell said he’s committed to Bortles as the starting quarterback. He added that he would solicit opinions about Bortles from the candidates to hear what they thought. He was willing to say he wanted to hear other opinions different from his own.

Once he gets the list down to a manageable size, he’ll get opinions around the league of “how he treats people, what he’s like,” but noted that the face-to-face meetings are the eventual determining factor on who they’ll hire.

“You want to find out as much about a person as you can and where they’ve been and how they’ve treated people, how they’ve acted. I think the biggest thing you’ve got to understand a lot of it’s second-hand information to you. You’ve got to sit down with the person and spend a lot of time not being impetuous with the decision and really kind of get to know the person before you make the decision. Then you’ve got to rely on your instincts when you select them.”

Here’s Shad’s statement:

“I thanked Gus Bradley today for his commitment to the Jacksonville Jaguars over the past four seasons. As anyone close to our team knows, Gus gave his staff and players literally everything he had. Our players competed for Gus and I know they have great respect for him, as do I.

Gus also represented the Jaguars, the Jacksonville community and the NFL in nothing less than a first-class manner as our head coach. That counts for a lot. It is unfortunately evident that we must make a change. I thought it would be best to do it immediately after today’s result so Gus can step away, relax and regroup with his family during the Christmas and holiday season.

Dave Caldwell agreed and will now be charged with exploring all options to hire the best head coach possible to lead what I feel is an extremely talented team and reward a very loyal and patient fan base in Jacksonville.”

As part of his journey to become a member of the Pride of the Jaguars, Jimmy Smith has seen a little bit of everything. From a draft bust to the rejected pile of NFL wide receivers, Smith rose to become one of the elite players in the game, only to fall from grace again as a jailed drug addict, now and forever recovering.

“Well, that journey has been tough and it’s not over yet,” Smith said on the day he was inducted into the Pride. “A friend was talking to me and he mentioned that I’m an all-pro at getting back up and that’s the message that I want to spread throughout – to every kid, every Jacksonville fan, every adult, everyone. Be an all-pro at getting back up, because you’re going to get knocked down.”

While among the elite in his career, including five Pro Bowl appearances, does Smith deserve a place in the Hall of Fame among the all-time greats?

A look at his statistics has him 21st in receiving yards, 46th in touchdowns and 24th in receptions. Smith finished his career with 862 catches for 12,287 yards and 67 touchdowns in 11 seasons.

Impressive, and the dominant receiver statistically in the middle of his career, but the Hall hasn’t been kind to receivers in the modern era. Fellow selector Vito Stellino has pointed out repeatedly that since the 1978 rule change allowing receivers to run free, numbers have been inflated year after year. So it’s not the numbers that impress the selectors (a committee I’ve been on since 1994) but rather the impact they had in their era.

It doesn’t help Jimmy that he played in Jacksonville. The exposure that major market teams get week after week plus the Jaguars lack of an appearance in the Super Bowl are hard obstacles to overcome. The playoff run in 1996 and the dominance in the regular season in 1999 gave Smith a recognizable name in the league but the lack of exposure to the major media markets puts him a half step behind players from just about anywhere else.

As part of the process, the Hall sends selectors a list of the 100 or so eligible players, coaches and contributors and we’re asked to pare that number down to twenty-five. Those who make that cut are called “semi-finalists.” In six years of eligibility, Jimmy has never made it as a semi-finalist. (Tony Boselli has made it the last two years.) From there we’re asked to cut the list to 15, and those 15 are discussed as finalists the day before the Super Bowl. Only 5 can be selected along with contributor and senior candidates. (As a footnote, about 90% of the players who become finalists are eventually inducted into the Hall.)

So it’s a tough road for anybody to get into the Hall. There’s also a pretty big backlog of receivers waiting for Hall induction. And it’s no guarantee that any will get in. Tim Brown, Chris Carter and Andre Reed sat on the ballot for years without induction. Lynn Swann and John Stallworth cancelled each other out year after year. Terrell Owens has monster numbers but is a controversial candidate. Randy Moss and others have moved to the top of the statistical list but haven’t even been discussed as finalists.

“It’ll be tough,” I told Jimmy and his long time friend and teammate Keenan McCardell when they asked me about his chances for the Hall. “A spot in the Pride of the Jaguars is a great honor and brings you that sense of immortality.”

After an emotional induction ceremony at halftime of the Jaguars game against Minnesota, Smith said getting into the Pride is a big deal to him.

“Mainly because this city, the owner Shad Khan, these fans, my teammates all recognize what I’ve done in my career. I think it starts here, before we go to the Hall of Fame. So that’s why this is even more important than a Hall of Fame nomination or anything like that.”

When you’re a fan, a player or even the Head Coach of a 2-10 team, nobody wants to hear about the good things you’re doing. Gus Bradley admitted that Monday at his weekly press conference saying he understands what people are thinking because he’s thinking the same things.

“I think it’s just disheartening looking at this team,” Gus said. “I share the frustration with our fans and this team. It is difficult. I believe so strongly in these guys in the locker room and this staff and what is taking place here, but it’s not okay. I’m not going to make excuses for what took place. I know people don’t want to hear that. ‘I don’t want to hear the positives. We are hurting.’ I agree. We’re right with you and so are the guys in that locker room.”

Is it OK to see the same mistakes, albeit from different players every week? Of course not. Bradley knows that and is trying to put his finger on why that is happening. From the outside, most of the finger pointing is at him. From the inside, Bradley knows it’s his job to get it right.

“We have to get this fixed,” he explained. “It’s a tough league. It’s extremely difficult.. Our next opponent that we’re playing, look at that. I think they started off 5-0 and now they have lost six of their last seven. It’s hard. It’s a challenging, challenging league. You have to be on it at all times.”

If that sounds like a guy who’s committed to the process, that’s because he is. There’s not one hint from Bradley that his tenure with the team might be up in less than a month. He’s working as if he’s going to lead this team long term. He’s not naïve, he’s not stupid and he doesn’t have his head buried in the sand. That’s just how he is. He’s going to work for a solution the best way he knows until somebody tells him he can’t. If that happens, that somebody will be Dave Caldwell through Shad Khan, but for now, Bradley is the Head Coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, a title and job he takes very seriously.

“You check out the type of people that you have in this locker room,” he said. “They’re unbelievable guys, unbelievable character. I’m talking about character, as a coach. You want players that have strong enough character that will help you through those tough times. That’s what you’re seeing in the locker room. It’s unbelievable. It’s unwavering, yet they’re hurting.”

Talking to the players in the locker room, they’re solidly behind Bradley and point at themselves rather than the coach, the scheme or the organization. So how does Bradley gauge if the team still has their head in the game?

“I think that’s a barometer for me, that these players are in it and they’re working hard and they’re going for it. It’s not enough. Like I told the whole team, I don’t believe in excuses. It’s not alright where we are. I’m not going to say it’s alright. I do know this: they work hard each and every week. That’s what I anticipate seeing again this week.”

And while Bradley is a positive upbeat guy, he’s not a rah-rah coach. He’s not pumping guys up. He’s pointing out what they’re doing right and what they’re doing wrong, giving them, what he thinks, is a chance to be their best.

“You still challenge everybody. It’s not the idea of positive or whatever the case. I think it’s just working hard. That’s what it’s all about in this game.”

When the first rumblings of the Tom Coughlin-to-Jacksonville story happened back it May, it seemed like distant thunder. Coughlin himself filled us in, saying he’d been in touch “with a few teams about a role” but didn’t’ find the right fit. Coughlin was still smarting from being fired by the Giants, “I’ll still fight you on that one,” he said at the time. As we reported then, the Jaguars were among the teams he talked with, including the Bills and possible another former employer, the Eagles.

After the Jaguars blowout loss to Tennessee in late October, the story surfaced again, with Coughlin linked to the Jaguars “in some capacity” but probably not as the Head Coach.

Now, much like those distant thunderstorms that roll into North Florida, the sound of that rumbling is much more like a thunderclap. As the losses mount and the pressure to replace Gus Bradley grows, the appeal of Tom Coughlin is partly based on nostalgia for Jaguars fans and partly rooted in what is perceived as the disciplined approach this team looks like it needs.

Although former Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver said it was the biggest mistake of his tenure, firing Tom Coughlin, it was the inevitable move necessary for the franchise at the time. The team was coming off three straight losing seasons and Coughlin’s act had worn thin on the players, fans and other staffers in Jacksonville. Tom had both the head coach and the GM role and wasn’t about to give it up. On the day he was fired, he laid out a plan for Weaver that he thought would put the Jaguars back in contention for the division in about a year. Weaver didn’t budge and knew nobody at the time in Jacksonville was going to buy a ticket for a Tom Coughlin-coached Jaguars team. After sitting out a year, Coughlin went on to be the Giants head coach and won two Super Bowls during his tenure there. He was not the General Manager in the Giants system, just the guy in charge of the football, on-field operation. In both of those championship seasons, Coughlin was on the verge of being fired but held onto his job by creating a better communication process with the players. His “management council” was a borrowed tool from Bill Parcells who used to carry guys like Keith Byars and Dave Meggett around from team to team as his locker room conduits to the rest of the players. Coughlin was told that his message wasn’t getting to the players so he met with some of the veterans every week to ensure that what he was saying was what they were hearing.

“We asked him to do that three or four times while he was here,” one well-known, well-respected Jaguars alumni player explained. “And basically he threw us out of his office,” another former star said with a laugh.

So while the climate in 2002 lent itself to firing Coughlin, the atmosphere is a bit thicker but feels about the same when it comes to 2016 and the future of Gus Bradley. In a production business, Bradley hasn’t been productive, garnering only 14 wins in four seasons. Last year, “Better than 5-11 I can tell you that,” was Owner Shad Khan’s response when asked what his expectation was for this year. General Manager Dave Caldwell has said the first two years under Bradley don’t count, but he was also expecting better results this year based on the free agent money spent and the draft picks put on the roster.

Why wouldn’t Coughlin become the Jaguars next Head Coach? At 70 years old, perhaps he doesn’t want the detailed, daily grind that’s required in the league these days for the head coach. (Remember, when then-Commissioner Paul Tagliabue declared a mandatory day off in the league after September 11, 2001, Coughlin was the lone employee at the Jaguars facility, pouring over video). Also with two Super Bowls with NY and two AFC Championship appearances with the Jaguars, Coughlin will get consideration for the Hall of Fame when he’s eligible, 4 years from now. But if he comes back as a head coach, that eligibility gets deferred by 5 years from when he officially retires.

“Does he really want to wait ’till he’s 80 for that,” one of his close friends said recently. “Why not enjoy the grandkids and see if that happens in a few years?”

While it’s hard to imagine Coughlin being idle or satisfied with going to New York during the season on Sunday’s as a “special assistant” to the commissioner, a role as President of Football Operations could be something he’d be comfortable with, wouldn’t effect his HOF eligibility and would still give him a role on the football side of things with some organization.

Could that organization be the Jaguars? He lives in Atlantic Beach and his Jay Fund charity is run by his daughter here in town. Certainly since they spoke to him last year, they’ll be in touch again this offseason to see if they can work out just where he’d be in the decision-making process for the club. Tom was interested then and he still has an ear out to join a club instead of working for the league. Caldwell will almost certainly still be the GM next year, so he and Coughlin would have to co-exist somehow when it came to personnel calls. If Bradley is fired, and I still think it’s an if, (10% chance he stays) what role would Coughlin play in choosing Bradley’s successor?

(BTW, I think Khan will let Caldwell make the decision whether to keep Bradley or not. If he still thinks he’s the guy, he could cite, Chuck Noll, Joe Gibbs, Bill Bellichick or Bill Walsh as guys who were big losers in the league before they became big winners. You’re right, fans won’t be happy and ticket sales would lag but Khan is looking long-term and isn’t worried about short-term sales.)

So for the third time this year the “Coughlin to Jacksonville” mill is at work. Will it continue to gain steam or much like many of those thunderstorms, get to the intracoastal and fade out? The Jaguars could use some “Coughlin like” influence. Whether the original is still the right fit is the question.

It’s the one play by the one player at almost the exact one wrong time that is getting the Jaguars beat on a regular basis. Their loss to Buffalo is another one score defeat in a game where they had their chances. The officiating was suspect for sure, but you can look at three or four situations in the game where the Jaguars didn’t execute didn’t play with the precision necessary and it’s what led to their ultimate demise.

For all the things that you can count that have gone wrong on their way to a 2-9 record, at least Quarterback Blake Bortles is honest with himself and everybody else about what the real reasons are for their ninth consecutive non-winning season.

“It’s easy to use that as a crutch or an excuse that we’re not getting the breaks or any luck,” *Bortles said in his post-game remarks. “It’s up to us to go make a play. Rather than leave it up to luck or a break or a bounce or a call it’s up to us to go make a play. We’ve got to do more of that.”

As Head Coach Gus Bradley has steadfastly stood by Bortles, Blake looks like he’s playing his way out of a season-long fog. He’s no world-beater but he played well enough to keep his team in the game. He didn’t get them beat. He admitted he should have called time out on 4th and 4 when the Jaguars were called for a delay of game, saying he was trying to check into another play but didn’t get it done in time. He was the leading rusher for the Jaguars, this week partly situation and partly by design.

“It’s just a chance to take off if they’re going to play “2 man,” Bortles explained. You drop back and wait a second and take off because nobody’s looking at you. In our 4th week with Nathaniel (Hackett) he’s adamant that if your progression isn’t there, take off and run.”

With a 7-6 halftime lead, the Jaguars gave up a 75-yard TD run to LeSean McCoy on the first play from scrimmage in the 3rd quarter. It’s one of three “explosive” plays the Jaguars allowed; just enough to get them beat.

“When we give up those explosives, that’s what gets us beat,” said Telvin Smith in front of his locker. “Never let this record define this team. We just gotta learn how to win situations and win those big plays.”

Sen’Derrick Marks said, “It just keeps catching us. Plays we haven’t given up and ones we won’t give up again. We have to find a way to finish.”

Marks also echoed what other players in the losing locker room said: They’re not giving up. “We feel so positive about what we have as a team. Honestly, our record doesn’t reflect how we play. We gotta figure out how to get over that hump. It’ll take some soul searching to do it.”

And Bradley was very matter-of-fact in his post-game remarks. He outlined how the Jaguars could have won the game, what their game plan was, and what they emphasized this week in practice. He thought the accomplished most of their goals, except winning the game.

“They made more plays than we did. We gave up a few explosive plays. Good team, we knew that.”

It’s not often Bradley bristles when asked a question, at least the fair ones, despite nine losses. But he didn’t like it one bit when he was asked how he’ll keep his team motivated now that they’re ensured of a losing record.

“I think our team is pretty focused,” he said. “I don’t question their focus or how they played. I don’t think you have to worry about their effort.”

It might be only and inch here or an inch there, but in the precise world of the NFL, those inches can be the ones that get you beat. Watching the Jaguars play the Lions in Detroit showed the difference between a team that’s making the routine play and one that’s a couple of inches off and not winning. Detroit has trailed in every one of their games this year at halftime yet is 6-4. The Jaguars are 2-8, losers of five straight because they’re having a tough time getting out of their own way.

For the tenth time in his career, Quarterback Blake Bortles threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown. It happened with the game still up for grabs, in the second half when a good drive or even a score could set the tone for what might happen. Blake’s throw to Marqise Lee wasn’t terrible, but it was just off the mark enough for it to be tipped in the air and picked off. A more precise throw and Lee probably catches the ball for a first down. We’re talking about a difference of six inches between where he threw it and where it needed to go. But that’s the price you pay in the NFL for imprecise play.

In addition to the defensive touchdown, the Lions scored a special teams touchdown and took advantage of a busted coverage to score their only offensive touchdown of the game. A fumble by Chris Ivory (his 4thof the year, leading the NFL), a missed extra point, blown coverage down the sideline (twice) and an egregious offside penalty against Sen’Derrick Marks at exactly the wrong time are examples of what has the Jaguars at 2-8 and a team like the Lions still thinking playoffs.

Watching the Lions play should have been inspiring for the Jaguars. They’re not great but they’re making plays when they need them most. Good tackles on third down, hitting the open receiver in stride on offense and filling their lanes on special teams. The Jaguars on the other hand were doing just the opposite: missing receivers on third down, missing tackles on special teams and jumping offside.

Last week Marks loudly complained that it was a “slap in the face” to only be on the field for 23 plays against the Texans. It was a little out of character for Marks, an affable guy off the field and an intense competitor on it. He also one of only a handful of veterans on this club (although he’s only 29) who are trying to be leaders in the locker room. But you can’t call the team out one week and not back it up the next by being baited into jumping offside. It’s only one play of probably about 40 Marks was on the field for in Detroit, but it’s that one play where they needed him the most that cost the Jaguars a chance at winning.

And it’s not always the same guy. One week it was Malik Jackson, another it was Blake Bortles. Jalen Ramsey, Dante Fowler, Bryan Walters and Rashad Greene have all had a hand in making plays, or rather not making plays, that have gotten the Jaguars beat.

A fix is not apparent but it is clear the Jaguars lack the core veterans at each position who know the nuance, precision, discipline and execution it takes to win at this level. Veterans who not only can play but also can lead, and are willing to be followed by those who want to learn. It’s a hard lesson to learn in a league that shows no mercy to those who are unprepared to win.