After the Jaguars hired Doug Pederson to be their head coach, Jacksonville planned to hire an executive vice president to help run the team’s football operations along with General Manager Trent Baalke.
Former Vikings G.M. Rick Spielman even interviewed for the role and was presumably the frontrunner for the job.
But now, the Jaguars have changed their plans.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Jaguars owner Shad Khan is putting the search for an executive VP on hold. According to the report, Khan doesn’t want to impede the significant progress made under Pederson with a new voice after the coaching and planning meetings of the last two weeks.
Rapoport adds that Jacksonville would still like to hire an assistant General Manager under Baalke and may still hire other personnel jobs.
Before the Jaguars hired Pederson, word was that Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich was close to landing Jacksonville’s head coaching job. But one significant area of contention was whether Baalke would remain the G.M. or if the Jags would instead hire Cardinals executive Adrian Wilson to take over the role.
PFT also reported that there were multiple candidates who declined an interview with Jacksonville and Baakle’s presence was a significant part of why that was the case.
But at least for now, Khan is opting to go with Pederson and Baalke to lead the Jaguars’ football operation.
