Although owner Shad Khan didn't have much success early in his tenure with the Jacksonville Jaguars, it looks like he's starting to figure things out. For instance, he's been more involved with the team in recent years and hasn't been afraid to listen to new perspectives, something he was seemingly opposed to. The fact that he hired Tony Boselli as the vicepresident of football operations was also huge.
It also helps that Khan isn't averse to spending, which can't be said about many of his peers. When you add it all up, he's done a fairly competent job of making the Jaguars relevant. And it sure looks like that's helped him avoid a dubious list.
Shad Khan avoided landing on the list of the worst pro sports owners
Nick Villano of Fansided put together a list of the 10 worst owners in pro sports. Al Davis (Oakland Raiders), Leonard Tose (Philadelphia Eagles), and Dan Snyder (Washington Commanders) managed to make the cut, but Shad Khan was nowhere to be seen.
It's worth noting that Davis was a pioneer in the early days of the modern NFL, but he got the nod because of his later years. Tose also did enough to warrant consideration, and there's no doubt that Snyder will go down as one of the worst NFL owners ever, so Khan was going to have a hard time making the list because his shortcomings are relatively tame in comparison.
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Shad Khan has done many good things with the Jaguars
Shad Khan's biggest blunder as an owner was not being actively involved with the team. He tried to change that in the past years, and it took him a while to get it right. Along the way, he made the mistake of courting Urban Meyer instead of conducting a proper coaching search in 2021. His lack of vetting set the team back at least a year.
Similarly, Khan relied too much on Trent Baalke's football acumen and didn't try to look for other perspectives. That nearly cost the Jags the chance to land Liam Coen in 2025. Fortunately, he became aware and ultimately dismissed him. Moreover, spending has never been an issue for the Jaguars' owner.
One of the few things Meyer got right was that Jacksonville needed better practice facilities for players. Khan listened and commissioned the construction of Miller Electric Center. On top of that, you will never hear about the Jags not wanting to pay their players in recent years. Late in the 2010s, it happened because then general manager Dave Caldwell was seemingly more interested in flipping the team's best players for picks, but that hasn't been an issue since he was let go in 2020.
The bottom line is that Shad Khan has had his ups and downs since purchasing the Jaguars, but he's certainly gotten enough things right to avoid being dubbed one of the worst NFL owners.