After assembling their coaching staff, the Jacksonville Jaguars are now focused on finding a general manager to fill the void left by Trent Baalke's departure. They've already put in requests for a handful of candidates, and Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated reveals the Jags have set a date to meet with one of their top targets.
Breer reports that Jacksonville will meet with Chicago Bears assistant general manager Friday 14th, noting that he's one of the top candidates for the vacancy.
Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham will interview for the Jaguars general manager job on Friday, per sources. Cunningham is a strong candidate, and has been since Liam Coen's hiring, to land the job.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) February 11, 2025
Originally, the Jaguars placed requests to interview Cunningham, Los Angeles Chargers assistant general manager Chad Alexander, Cincinnati Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown, Los Angeles Rams director of scouting James Gladstone, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers executive Mike Greenberg. Since then, Greenberg has withdrawn his name from consideration. As of this writing, it's unknown when Jacksonville will meet with the rest of the candidates.
Early in February, Breer reported that Cunningham, along with interim general manager Ethan Waugh, and former Tennessee Titans general manager Jon Robinson, was in the mix for the job. While Waugh is a finalist for the opening, the Jags have yet to schedule a meeting with him.
Cunningham learned his chops under Ozzie Newsome and Howie Roseman, two of the top general managers in the NFL the past 20 years, having won a combined three Super Bowls between the two. Newsome won another one as the Baltimore Ravens executive vice president of player personnel.
Update: Around the same time Breer shared his scoop about the Jaguars GM search, Josina Anderson that Bills director of player personnel Terrance Gray is scheduled to interview for the job Wednesday.
Date Update: I'm told that #Bills director of player personnel Terrance Gray is scheduled to interview for the #Jaguars GM job on Wednesday, per source.
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) February 11, 2025
Ian Cunningham is one of several intriguing candidates for the Jaguars GM job
Ian Cunningham's experience under Ozzie Newsome and Howie Roseman most definitely makes him an intriguing candidate for the Jaguars general manager opening. That said, the organization will run an extensive search before it settles on someone. Vice president of football operations Tony Boselli said as much during an interview on talkSports End Zone.
"We're going to be just fine. And because Ethan was our interim GM, we are operating in business as usual. And Ethan Waugh is a finalist for the GM, and he is a heck of a personnel guy. He's the assistant GM. He was in San Francisco before this. He's a pro's pro," Boselli said. "So we are operating right now on schedule, on time. We're moving forward at the combine, towards the draft, and everything else. So that is not an issue."
Boselli continued, "So I don't want any of our fans think, 'Oh no, they gotta hustle, and they gotta rush around and make a quick decision.' We're not gonna do that. We're gonna make the right decision. And we're kicking off the first starter interviews next week on Monday, and we have nine external candidates that will go through virtual interviews. We have some internal candidates as well, Ethan being one of them.
"Ethan will be a finalist because he's earned that right. He has proven what kind of personnel person he is. And then once we go through the virtuals, we'll narrow it down to three to five that will include Ethan, and then we'll have in-person interviews, hopefully, the next week, all depending on scheduling, and then we'll come out with a decision."
Below is Boselli's full exchange on talkSport End Zone. His comments about the general manager search start at the 13:15 mark.
Boselli is right the Jaguars cannot rush a decision if they want to ultimately land the right person for the job. As he pointed out, they're currently operating with Ethan Waugh at the helm, so there's no reason to press the panic button just yet.