Doug Marrone lands at 26 in NFL.com head coach rankings

After leaving the Buffalo Bills with a bad rap, new Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone has to work his way back up the coach rankings.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have driven themselves into the pits of the NFL with their atrocious win-loss records over the last several seasons. Since firing head coach Jack Del Rio, the Jaguars have employed arguably two of the worst head coaches in the NFL (Mike Mularkey and Gus Bradley) and their play on the field has reflected the poor coaching.

Heading into 2017, the Jaguars will have the most competent leadership in place than they’ve had since 2010.

That’s not to say new head coach Doug Marrone doesn’t still have a lot to prove.

Elliot Harrison over at NFL.com released his 2017 NFL Head Coach Power Rankings and he’s taking a wait-and-see approach with the former-interim head coach in Jacksonville:

"26) Doug Marrone, Jacksonville JaguarsMarrone toils in the weirdest coaching environment among all the first-year guys. The expectations for the Jags always seem to measure inversely with the subsequent results. The confidence in the (franchise?) quarterback wavers — at best. And the word on the street is that Tom Coughlin’s footprint is all over the Jaguars operation. Thus, Marrone must produce wins with a successful former head coach looking over his shoulder and a quarterback whose recent play has been erratic (and no other QB waiting in the wings), all against the backdrop of what has been a losing culture in Jacksonville."

Besides Todd Bowles over in New York, Marrone is lowest ranked head coach who isn’t a rookie. First time head coaches (Anthony Lynn, Vance Joseph, Sean McVay, Sean McDermott, and Kyle Shanahan) are all ranked below Marrone. It’s clear Harrison just put all the first time head coaches at the bottom and started from there.

Effectively, he thinks Marrone is the second worst coach in the NFL which is fair for now. A coach is ultimately judged by what his team does on the field and all we can use to evaluate Marrone is a blowout win over Tennessee last year followed by a blown lead in week 17 against the Colts.

I think Marrone will be a monumental upgrade on the previous head coach. The question will just be how big that improvement will be in terms of play on the field.