Greg Olson Hired as Jacksonville Jaguars Offensive Coordinator
By Luke Sims
Greg Olson will be joining the Jacksonville Jaguars as offensive coordinator for the 2015 season.
It took three weeks but the Jaguars are ending the search with a quality offensive mind returning to Jacksonville. Olson previously worked for the Jaguars as the assistant head coach/quarterbacks coach in 2012. While that is a season we would all prefer to forget, Olson has put together a solid body of work and will be a step forward after two lackluster seasons under Jedd Fisch.
Olson has spent the last two seasons with the Oakland Raiders, struggling to find consistency with the standard turmoil of that franchise.
Like recently hired offensive line coach Doug Marrone, Olson brings some needed experience to the Jaguars. Olson has worked as offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions, St. Louis Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the aforementioned Raiders. He had his best offensive rankings with the St. Louis Rams, finishing with the sixth best offense in yards and 10th in points in 2006.
Hopefully the Jaguars can see a resurgence under Olson and near at least middling rankings in their second year under quarterback Blake Bortles.
Olson will be tasked with having to work with a lot of young players who need a lot of coaching to capitalize on potential. While Gus Bradley is a solid coach with an excellent body of work, his emphasis is defensive and it was apparent under Fisch that the team needed someone with more experience to truly train the players and enable them to take the next step and play at an NFL level.
The work will be tough, especially for a franchise that is still finding its identity, but hopefully Olson will be able to work closely with Bradley and general manager Dave Caldwell to get pieces in place that can succeed under a new offensive system. That system will have to be flexible to accommodate the scattered skill levels of an offense that features few veterans and many young players vying for snaps to showcase their talents.
I’m excited to see what Olson can do. Hopefully he will help the team make strides and provide stability for Blake Bortles as he is forced to learn a new offense and try to put it all together in the NFL.