Jacksonville Jaguars must get Rod Marinelli to coach their defensive line

The Jacksonville Jaguars need to find a way to get Rod Marinelli.

Urban Meyer, the Jacksonville Jaguars’ new head coach is wasting no time and is already putting his coaching staff together. One assistant he should target is former Las Vegas Raiders defensive line coach and interim defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli.

Meyer has already said he’s looking for great coaches and Marinelli fits that description, as he has excelled at coaching defensive lines throughout his career. While he didn’t have much success as the head coach of the Detroit Lions, he’s overseen some pretty stout front fours. Marinelli was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive line coach when they won their first and only Super Bowl in franchise history. At the time, he coached defensive tackle Warren Sapp, defensive end Simeon Rice.

More recently, Marinelli was the Dallas Cowboys defensive line coach in 2013 and got promoted to defensive coordinator the following season. Dallas’ defense logged at least 36 sacks from 2016 to 2019. The California native played a big role in developing Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and got the most out of players such as Jack Crawford, David Irving, and Tyrone Crawford.

Also, Marinelli worked with defensive end Robert Quinn in 2019 and helped him registered double-digit sacks, something the former first-round pick hadn’t done since 2014. Although his stint with the Raiders wasn’t as successful, it looks like an exception and not the norm, and the Jaguars don’t lose anything by granting Marinelli an interview.

The Jacksonville Jaguars’ are revamping their coaching staff.

Meyer has already started to assemble his coaching staff. Former South Florida head coach Charlie Strong will likely be Jacksonville’s linebackers coach, and Scott Linehan is a prime candidate to get the offensive coordinator job. Moreover, the former Florida and Ohio State head coach reached out to former interim Atlanta Falcons head coach Raheem Morris to gauge his interest in the defensive coordinator position, per former ESPN insider Josina Anderson.

As a member of Meyer’s coaching staff, Marinelli could work with defensive ends K’Lavon Chaisson and Josh Allen and defensive tackles Doug Costin and DaVon Hamilton. The defensive line coach has shown that he put his players in a position to succeed and it wouldn’t be any different.

Meyer says he’s in the process of evaluating the Jaguars’ incumbent coaching staff and it’s uncertain how long it will take him. In the meantime, he should consider giving Marinelli a call.