Jaguars fire Trent Baalke in a move that's too little too late

This offseason's coaching cycle has really started to heat up as a few teams have now filled the position, but the Jacksonville Jaguars have been unable to land the big name candidates they've desperately desired.

After letting go of former head coach Doug Pederson, it was clear that this organization needed a reset. Would it make sense for that reset to include also firing general manager Trent Baalke?

One would assume so. However, owner Shahid Khan allowed Baalke to keep the job after initially firing Pederson back on January 6.

For all intents and purposes, starting over at both head coach and general manager would have made the most sense in this case. However, Baalke remained in power and began helping conduct the team's coaching search.

16 days into the coaching search, though, it appears Khan's sentiments have changed.

In news that seemingly came way later than ever anticipated, the Jaguars opted to fire Baalke on Wednesday afternoon.

The Jaguars firing Trent Baalke is a move that should have happened weeks ago

Of course, it makes sense for Baalke to be fired now after the Jaguars have missed out on their top two head coaching candidates.

Former Detroit Lions coordinator Ben Johnson opted to spurn Jacksonville in favor of taking the Chicago Bears job. Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen turned down the Jaguars job in order to stay put under Todd Bowles.

Swinging and missing on arguably your top two head coach candidates is good enough reason to be fired. But, shouldn't the Jaguars have done this much sooner?

Dating back to the end of the regular season after Pederson was fired, there were numerous rumblings that someone like Johnson wouldn't be all that interested in Jacksonville so long as Baalke was the general manager.

Folks like The Athletic's Dianna Russini even said as much on multiple fronts, including her podcast, Scoop City, a few weeks back.

That should have been Khan's final clue to let go of Baalke back then, but he still allowed his general manager to stay put for another 16 days after Pederson's firing.

It's almost as if Jaguars fans could have made this decision for their owner.

Oh, wait ... they certainly could have.

Better late than never, I suppose. But, the Jaguars face a reality going forward where they're already behind the 8-ball in more ways than one.