With Jaguars Spiraling, General Manager's Silence May Tell the Story

With the Jacksonville Jaguars sitting at 0-4 despite their high expectations, there has been silence from the team's top brass outside of head coach Doug Pederson.

Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager Trent Baalke and owner Shad Khan look on during day 2 of the Jaguars Training Camp Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at the Knight Sports Complex at Episcopal School of Jacksonville. Jki Jagstrainingcampday2 32 / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Jacksonville Jaguars are in a downward spiral.

Sitting at 0-4 after the first month of the season, the Jaguars find themselves in unprecedented territory. Only one 0-4 team in the entire history of the NFL has ever made the playoffs, and that happened in 1992 -- seven years before franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence was even born.

And with the Jaguars remaining the NFL's only winless team after four weeks despite sky-high expectations, questions are remaining without answers.

While in the halls of NRG Stadium following the Jaguars' 24-20 loss to the Houston Texans, Jaguars On SI made a request to the Jaguars' public relations and communications department for a sit-down interview with general manager Trent Baalke to discuss the state of the franchise and its future.

The request was followed up on Monday via email.

"As we discussed in Houston, here is my formal interview request for a 15-minute sit-down with GM Trent Baalke. Thank you for your time and consideration!"

On Tuesday, the Jaguars' public relations department responded to the request via email.

"John: We politely decline. Thank you for reaching out. As you might know, and we have been consistent with this, the GM here does not do interviews during the season."

While we respect the Jaguars and Baalke's policy -- which has been consistent throughout his tenure in Jacksonville -- we do believe this is the wrong move after the Jaguars' 0-4 start.

This is not simply a slow start for the Jaguars. This isn't just a rut. This has instead been a full-blown nightmare scenario for a team that had playoff expectations entering the season. For a team that has gone 9-8 in back-to-back seasons and was expecting to get over the hump in 2024, the Jaguars have instead taken the biggest step back of any team in the league through four weeks.

The Jaguars have time to turn their season around -- 13 games exact. And they have done it before, with the 2022 Jaguars recovering from a 2-6 start and earning a playoff birth and an AFC South championship.

But this season is different. The Jaguars should not need a miracle to turn this season around. Not after owner Shad Khan invested over a quarter of a billion dollars into extending quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Not after Khan made Josh Hines-Allen the highest-paid defender in team history and it's first-ever $100 million player.

Not after the investments Khan has made off the field through the Miller Electric Center, years of opening up his wallet in free agency, and his commitment to the Stadium of the Future.

"About a month ago we celebrated the city's partnership with the Jaguars and the approval of funding for the new stadium of the future. So I met with the reporters and the discussion obviously quickly turned to football and I was quoted. "For us, winning now is the expectation." So really I been looking forward to tonight to set the record straight," Khan told the team in the team-produced 'The Hunt' series. before the season began.

"I was not misquoted. And let me just repeat. Winning now is the expectation. Make no mistake, this is the best team assembled by the Jacksonville Jaguars, ever. Best players, best coaches. But most importantly, let's prove it by winning now."

After back-to-back 9-8 seasons, a playoff season, and a late-season collapse in 2023, the Jaguars needed to win and win early this season. With the coach Baalke and Khan picked, the Jaguars are 0-4. With Khan saying this is the best Jaguars team ever, the franchise is winless. The Jaguars are wounded and blood is in the water. With expectations like this, the sharks are bound to swim.

While we respect and understand Baalke's and the Jaguars' policy, it is fair to assume jobs are on the line with the Jaguars' current start. And the longer Baalke and the Jaguars' brass are silent about their 0-4 start and their potential solutions, the more questions arise. Does Baalke's not talking indicate a lack of answers, or that he understands his job is on the line as well alongside Pederson's?

The Jaguars and Baalke have a right to develop and maintain their policies, and they have been consistent in doing so throughout the years. But in this case, we believe it is the wrong move. The fans, the locker room, and Khan deserve answers.

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