5 Qualities the Jaguars Should Look For in Next General Manager

The Jaguars will be hiring a new general manager within the coming weeks. What kind of candidates should they target in terms of traits? We give our arguments here.

Within the next month or so, the Jacksonville Jaguars will have a new leader in their front office. 

The next general manager hire will have two of the most important decisions in franchise history -- picking the head coach and quarterback -- on their plate immediately, so this is clearly a hire the Jaguars have to hit out of the park.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan has hired two front office executives to call shots for the team during his tenure: Dave Caldwell (2013) and Tom Coughlin (2017). Caldwell was fired 9 days ago after serving nearly eight seasons, while Coughlin was fired last December before he could finish his third season with the team.

Each of those hires was radically different in terms of their backgrounds and management styles. The reason for Coughlin's downfall was his heavy-handedness and overbearing management style. For Caldwell, he missed on evaluations at key positions such as quarterback and offensive line. 

With these two past hires and Jacksonville's current situation in mind, we have put together the top 5 qualities that Khan and the Jaguars should look for when selecting their next general manager. What makes a good one tick and why are their traits needed with the Jaguars? We break it down here.

Accountability

As the Jaguars have learned the hard way over the years, there aren't many traits more important for a front office executive than accountability. They need to not only hold themselves accountable for their own missteps, because every general manager will miss from time to time, but also hold others in the organization accountable. From the scouting department to the coaching staff to even the players they draft and sign, general managers have to understand what it is time to take ownership of a mistake and make a change. 

Jacksonville failed to do this with Blake Bortles and, frankly, with most facets of the team during Coughlin's reign. By ensuring everybody in the organization knows that success is the goal and any mistakes should and will be amended, the general manager demands excellence. This is how you see New England, Indianapolis, Minnesota, and other front offices operate. They cut bait when needed to and accept they made mistakes, which is much better than doubling down and trying to wriggle out of any situation. 

Adaptability 

The 2020 offseason was a great example of what adaptability is important for general managers and football teams. The entire process of scouting the 2020 NFL Draft was turned upside down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and chances are 2021 won't be much closer to "normal". We saw several forward-thinking front offices tackle this year's challenge with ferocity, and it is no surprise to see they are the same front offices that are able to adapt to new rosters, new coaching staffs, and new salary cap challenges each year. 

No general manager should ever have a strict "my way or the highway" mentality. Football is a sport that changes every single year, especially at the NFL level. A good general manager is one who is willing to accept those changes and find new, creative ways to find success. That is the type of general manager the Jaguars will need moving forward.

Foresight

Nobody is able to tell the future, but it isn't out of the question to require for a general manager to have a proper level of foresight. While the main focus is fielding a team to win for the upcoming season, the general manager can't make too many decisions that would harm the Jaguars in the future. They need to ensure they are making good long-term bets, not ones that are likely to blow up in their face if you just play the likely scenarios out (such as signing Nick Foles). Good general managers are able to plan years in advance, making moves several steps ahead of other teams. 

This is something the Jaguars have never really had in recent years. Whether it was lack of foresight when it came to the NFL Draft or big free agency signings, the Jaguars consistently has made the wrong decision when it comes to long-term moves. An effective general manager would be able to balance short-term needs with the long-term health of the franchise, something the Jaguars have struggled with. 

Track record of scouting success 

If the Jaguars hired a member of, let's say, the New York Jets' front office, eyebrows would understandably be raised -- and they should. This isn't to say the Jaguars should eliminate all potential candidates from teams with poor records, but it is clear the Jaguars need to strongly look at those who have been around success. There are a number of teams that have consistently pumped out front office candidates due to their track records in the draft, free agency, and on Sundays, and this year will be no different. 

An executive who comes from a winning team will, of course, have their own idea of how to run a team, but they will also be heavily influenced by the environment they came from. Who wouldn't want to try to duplicate the front office success of Baltimore, Kansas City, or New Orleans? It is also vital for the general manager candidate to have had a direct hand in the scouting, whether at the pro or college level. 

Willingness to work cohesively with HC

This is perhaps the most crucial trait. When you look at the best teams in the NFL each year, they are teams that have a front office and coaching staff work in lockstep. They know the exact kind of players the coaches value in terms of scheme and culture fit, which makes drafting all that much easier. Working cohesively with the head coach is a big factor in shaping the roster because the coach is the one who will have to cook with the ingredients that get bought for him.

Caldwell always worked well alongside his head coach (Coughlin did not, but that is another story), but there was always some disconnect in terms of scheme fits on both sides of the ball. It never seemed like the Jaguars' scouting department had a specific type of player to look for in terms of fits, especially on the defensive side of the ball. For example, the Jaguars drafted K'Lavon Chaisson at No. 20 and Caldwell said he would play standing up, but Chaisson has spent nearly the entirety of his rookie year as a 4-3 defensive end. Having a strong line of communication to prevent mixups like that will be key.