Black and Teal » Steve Keim

Jaguars GM Search: Patience is a Virtue

Luke Sims — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 15:49:30 +0000

As the Jaguars move further into a week after firing general manager Gene Smith, the expected announcement of who will be joining the Jacksonville Jaguars as the new GM is being delayed by, at least to this writer, the New York Jets. The Jets, the team who received the lion’s share of Tom Gamble’s attention after he cut off interviews with the Jags, have now reportedly brought in David Caldwell – the Jags’ top candidate – for a second interview.

With the Jags’ other top candidate, Steve Keim, interviewing to be the Arizona Cardinals’ GM for next season, it is starting to look bleek for the Jaguars. You’d think that a blank slate with the Jaguars would be preferable to a job that makes you have to work with Rex Ryan, but the draw of a mega-market like New York may be too much for Caldwell to pass up. If you’re Keim, the desire for continued advancement with a franchise that has been good to you may be tough to pass up as well.

While the Jaguars do present a good opportunity for a GM looking to mold a team in his image, it could still be difficult to entice these football minds to come to the least popular franchise in the league. Smith definitely needed to go, but losing out to the market would certainly put a damper on the beginning of the 2013 season for the Jaguars. While patience is a virtue, I’m having a hard time seeing why someone like Caldwell, who has had three interviews with the Jags, would not decide to go with Jacksonville if he wasn’t pretty sold on the idea of getting the New York position.

Here we, the Jaguar fans, sit waiting patiently while men with many job opportunities fritter with language and dreams. Who knows, maybe Caldwell always wanted to be the Jets’ GM when he was a kid? Whatever it is, my patience (as virtuous as it is) is quickly growing as thin as the Jaguars’ chances of landing Tom Gamble.

- Luke N. Sims

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Tom Gamble Turns Down Jags Interview

Luke Sims — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 20:47:51 +0000

Jacksonville Jaguars’ GM candidate Tom Gamble of the San Francisco 49ers has turned down a second interview with team owner Shahid Khan, according to Adam Schefter. Schefter says that Gamble is focusing on landing the New York Jets’ general manager job. Many Jaguar fans would have liked to see Gamble come to Jacksonville as his time in San Francisco has made him a top candidate with multiple franchises. Gamble’s removal from the Jags’ GM search opens it up to other candidates such as Dave Caldwell and Steve Keim from the Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals, respectfully.

- Luke N. Sims

Jaguars GM Search: Steve Keim

Luke Sims — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:03:16 +0000

By firing Gene Smith the Jacksonville Jaguars are stating that they can do better. For any Jaguar fan who watched even a few of this season’s games, this was already obvious. Owner Shahid Khan is doing the best thing for this team by searching for a new general manager.

According to the Florida Times-Union, the Jags have set up time to meet with Steve Keim, the Vice President of Player Personnel for the Arizona Cardinals. Keim has been with the Cardinals for 14 years following time playing in both the NFL and the CFL before heading into scouting and personnel in 1999. The Cardinals have given Keim steady advancement during his time in Arizona. He has risen from a regional scout to his current position, having been promoted three times.

While the Cardinals are not much better at selecting quarterbacks than the Jaguars (How you doing Kevin Kolb?), Keim provides a different perspective from Smith. Smith believed in getting “base hits,” whereas Keim believes that you must be “willing to stand up and swing for the fences. You don’t get better by trying to hit singles all the time.” Jags fans are desperate for this kind of winning mentality that seemed to be missing from the Smith era.

Keim is reportedly of interest to both the Arizona Cardinals and San Diego Chargers. Both teams parted way with their general managers this past week. Keim interviewed for the St. Louis GM job last season but did not receive it.

- Luke N. Sims

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