David Caldwell’s legacy with the Jacksonville Jaguars is not a good one.
After eight years of minimal results, the Jacksonville Jaguars have decided to part ways with general manager Dave Caldwell. Although he struggled through most of his tenure, owner Shahid Khan displayed patience and gave him plenty of time to help turn the team into a perennial contender.
Nevertheless, Caldwell couldn’t take advantage of the opportunities Khan gave him and failed to draft and acquire impact players in spite of having plenty of resources at his disposal. He certainly got some picks right. Linebacker Myles Jack and Brandon Linder, whom the general manager drafted, have become key contributors for the team.
Caldwell also signed undrafted free-agent James Robinson, who has become of the best running backs in the NFL in his rookie season. Nevertheless, the negatives outweigh the positives and the general manager wasn’t able to field a competitive team on a yearly basis.
Looking back, the one time the Jaguars reached the AFC Championship in 2017 looks like an outlier. Instead of keeping the players that made their 2017 playoff run possible, Caldwell shipped them and left the roster devoid of many playmakers.
Keep in mind that it wasn’t just one blunder or a couple, Caldwell simply couldn’t pick the right players in his time as the Jaguars general manager and will be remembered for the bad decision he made at the helm. Here are six of those decisions that played a role in his dismissal from Jacksonville’s front office.
These two second-round picks didn’t do much with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars selected Marqise Lee in the second round of 2014’s NFL Draft. Coming out of USC, the wide receiver was expected to play a big role on offense but didn’t do much of note in his tenure in Jacksonville. All in all, he hauled in 174 receptions for 2,184 yards and eight touchdowns in six years. His best year came in 2016 when he caught 63 passes for 851 yards and three touchdowns.
What makes Lee’s selection even worse in retrospect is the fact the team’s brass gave him a four-year $38 million contract in 2018. He tore his ACL the same year, failed to have an impact in 2019, and was released earlier this year.
The Jaguars expected T.J. Yeldon to be their workhorse running back when David Caldwell used a second-round pick on the Alabama product in 2015. However, he never played more than 59 percent of the team’s offensive snaps in a season is mostly remembered for being blasted for his disrespectful and selfish behavior by former Executive Vice President Of Football Operations Tom Coughlin in 2018.
Yeldon’s best season in Jacksonville was in 2015 when he racked up 182 carries for 740 yards and two touchdowns. He’s currently with the Buffalo Bills after signing a two-year contract in 2019 but has been a non-factor.
The Jacksonville Jaguars never fully reinforced their trenches.
Luke Joeckel was David Caldwell’s first selection as the team’s general manager, and the first of many top five blunders he would have at the helm of the Jaguars front office. During his four-year tenure, the left tackle only started one full season once and was a liability when he was in the lineup.
In defense of Cadwell, the 2013 NFL Draft wasn’t a particularly good one to select a tackle. Other than Lane Johnson, whom the Philadelphia Eagles selected two picks after Joeckel, that selection process didn’t produce many studs. Then again, the Jaguars could’ve selected Johnson instead of Joeckel, so they don’t get a pass.
None of the players the Jaguars selected in the first round of the draft from 2013 to 2017 remain with the team. That streak will expand soon, as their 2018 first-round selection, defensive tackle Taven Bryan, has failed to have an impact.
Taven has progressively gotten less playing time in 2020 and was outplayed by rookies DaVon Hamilton and Doug Costin. At the time of the selection, it looked like Taven was going to reinforce a sturdy defensive line that registered 55 sacks in 2017. Instead, the defensive tackle started just one game in his rookie season, made 20 total tackles, and had one sack.
The two worst picks the Jacksonville Jaguars made under David Caldwell.
2017 was a great year to select a quarterback. That draft class produced arguably the most electrifying player in the NFL right now, Patrick Mahomes. Deshaun Watson, who gives the Houston Texans a chance to compete week in and week out, joined the league in the same year. Having a chance to select a franchise player, whom did the Jaguars select? Running back Leonard Fournette.
The LSU product had a solid rookie season, but he wasn’t even the best running back in that draft. The Jaguars could’ve drafted Mahomes or Watson with the fourth overall pick and chose a playmaker such as Delvin Cook, Joe Mixon, or Alvin Kamara in a later round. Having a chance to select a franchise quarterback in 2017, David Caldwell opted to choose a running back, and not even the best one in that class.
When the Jaguars drafted Blake Bortles in 2014, they thought they had found their quarterback of the future. Instead, they got a marginal player that held the franchise back for a few years. Bortles put respectable numbers in 2015 but didn’t win any meaningful games with the ‘Black and Teal’. Although the team reached the AFC Championship in 2017, they got there on the strength of their ferocious defense and in spite of the quarterback.
The team’s brass got mesmerized nonetheless and gave Bortles a three-year $54 million extension in 2018, a decision they quickly regretted and prompted them to release the quarterback the following season.