Ranking Jaguars top 5 head coaching candidates in 2022

The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the market for a head coach again… again. After less than a year, the Jags realized that the Urban Meyer experiment wasn’t going to work out and opted to fire him with four weeks left in the 2021 season instead of letting the situation drag until next year.

Firing Meyer now gives the Jaguars a head start on other teams that will also be in search of a head coach in the next hiring cycle, such as the Chicago Bears, and the Houston Texans. Jacksonville can begin to put together a list of potential candidates and start interviewing them in a couple of weeks.

Jordan Schultz of The Game Day says that even though Shad Khan won’t address the Jaguars’ head coach opening until next year, he’s talked about Byron Leftwich, Brian Daboll, Todd Bowles, Doug Pederson, and Josh McDaniels as potential candidates. That list may eventually change, and some of them have a better resume than others but it’s a pretty solid list all things considered. Let’s say they are Khan’s top 5 moving forward, how do they fare when matched up against each other? Here’s a ranking of the five.

Jaguars head coach candidate No. 5 – Josh McDaniels

There’ve been talks Josh McDaniels will succeed Bill Belichick in New England but it’s unlikely that he will pass up the chance to become a head coach if the right opportunity arises. McDaniels went through a rough stretch late in the 2000s and early in the 2010s.

McDaniels couldn’t find success as the head coach of the Denver Broncos and later as the offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams. However, he’s rehabilitated his image after returning to the Patriots and helping Mac Jones become a legitimate Offensive Rookie of the Year candidate.

Back in Denver, McDaniels had trouble connecting with players but that was more than a decade ago. There’s a good chance he’s worked on that area and if can make the case he will do for Trevor Lawrence what he did for Jones, he will be an enticing option.