How Trent Baalke found a way to survive as the Jaguars general manager

The biggest surprise on Black Monday in the NFL was that the Jacksonville Jaguars decided to retain Trent Baalke as their general manager despite the fact that they were expected to clean house.

It’s a move fans and pundits could not have seen coming after a 4-13 season with so many players underperforming. When you look at the free agent signings Baalke made ahead of the 2024 campaign, and how awful many of them were, it’s no wonder many were shocked to see Shad Khan decide to keep him.

It’s hard to wrap your head around Shad Khan’s belief in Baalke and his decision-making, but here are some reasons why Khan may have thought he was still useful.

Trent Baalke’s key draft picks

In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Jaguars made a few savvy draft selections that paid immediate dividends.

The best of the bunch was Brian Thomas Jr., who was among the top wide receivers in the league and was snubbed from the Pro Bowl.

After him, there was Maason Smith, who did a fantastic job stopping the run down the stretch of the season and hurrying opposing quarterbacks after a slow start to his rookie campaign.

Then there was kicker Cam Little, who only missed two field goals and was fairly automatic which is something we didn’t see out of Brandon McManus or Riley Patterson. The former Arkansas Razorhusk's consistency was evident this season.

Outside of those three, there were other draft picks that have made Baalke look like a good general manager, giving him perhaps more credit than he deserves. Choosing Travon Walker over Aidan Hutchinson remains a baffling decision to this day, and the latter has been better overall, but the former first-overall pick out of Georgia still led the Jags with 10.5 sacks this season and has had two decent campaigns.

Tank Bigbsy was a beast out of the backfield, another draft pick during Baalke’s tenure, and he and Travis Etienne could form one of the best running back tandems in 2025.

Etienne, let’s not forget, was the closer in their playoff run in the 2022 season, and this team wins more often than not when he runs for 100 yards.

Bigsby, meanwhile, was stellar this season in short yardage while showing flashiness in the open field.

Trent Baalke’s key free agent signings

There’ve been some great draft picks by the Jaguars during Trent Baalke’s tenure as general manager. We haven’t seen a lot of free agents pan out, though.

Brandon McManus missed key kicks in 2023, the new-look secondary was burned multiple times in 2024, while Mitch Morse was the only free agent signing ahead of this recently completed season that panned out as a newcomer free agent.

You can also argue that Christian Kirk hasn’t been a worthwhile investment overall, but there’s maybe a small argument that Khan saw regarding Baalke’s free-agent spending.

Whether you agree or not, Baalke’s saving grace in free agency probably stems from the signings made ahead of the 2022 campaign. Kirk, Evan Engram, Zay Jones and Foye Oluokun were among those Baalke added to the roster in Trevor Lawrence’s sophomore season.

Those players were immense in the Jaguars playoff run, as Oluokun led the league in tackles that year, while Kirk and Engram played big parts in that comeback win over the LA Chargers in the post-season.

We rarely saw those signings step up in 2024, but perhaps Khan is looking more to Pederson on that one instead of Baalke.

None of these reasons should be sufficient to keep him as Jaguars general manager, but if there is a rationale for him staying, perhaps the recent draft picks and free agent performances are why.