Public embarrassment was too much for the Jaguars not to fire Trent Baalke

It took them a while, but the Jacksonville Jaguars just dismissed general manager Trent Baalke. Ideally, they would've fired him when they ousted head coach Doug Pederson, but the public outcry became too loud to ignore.

After watching Liam Coen return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, owner Shad Khan realized that Baalke was indeed hurting the team's chances of attracting top coaching candidates, so he finally pulled the trigger. Here's the Jaguars' announcement following Baalke's departure.

All things considered, it's not surprising that the Jags got rid of Baalke. The real question is why they waited so long. After all, owner Shad Khan told the local media that keeping Baalke wouldn't be an issue in their search for a new head coach.

However, a prominent candidate for the vacancy made it clear that he was less inclined to take the job because of the divisive general manager. That should've been a sign that Jacksonville needed to clean house. Nevertheless, Khan stubbornly held onto Baalke during the coaching search and it came back to haunt the Jags.

Early in the process, the Jaguars were the favorite to land Ben Johnson, but he ultimately chose the Chicago Bears because he didn't like the setup in Jacksonville. But even after losing out on the crown jewel of this hiring cycle, Baalke stayed up.

It wasn't until the Jaguars missed out on Coen and the public backlash in the aftermath that they came to the realization that Baalke was indeed having a negative effect on their coaching search. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media said as much following the firing.

"Yeah, this really has been something that the Jacksonville Jaguars have been mowing for the last couple days, obviously, right in the thick of a head coaching search," Rapoport said on NFL Total Access. "And Trent Baalke was assisting owner Shad Khan with the search. The problem is, as most people probably know, some of the top candidates kind of balked at joining Jacksonville because of the presence of general manager Trent Baalke."

Rapoport continued, "I think it's safe to say his reputation fair or not — I would argue, probably not entirely fair — his reputation certainly has preceded him. And there are several candidates I know who would not have taken the job if Baalke was there. Owner Shad Khan obviously caught wind of this. As they considered now whether or not to bring in some of the top candidates and kind of how to proceed, they decided it was in the best interest of the organization to cut ties here and move on."

Below is the full clip where Rapoport talks in detail about the Jaguars' decision to give Baalke the boot.

What's next for the Jaguars after firing Trent Baalke?

The Jacksonville Jaguars took a step in the right direction when they made Trent Baalke walk the plank. However, there's still plenty of work left. For starters, they'll need to continue their coaching search. Moreover, they'll need to find a new general manager. For the time being, Ethan Waugh will serve as the interim.

Insider Josina Anderson, for her part, is reporting that the Jaguars are mulling a myriad of potential front-office structures, pointing out that Jacksonville must set the course straight.

It's hard to tell how things have played out, but the Jaguars ultimately checked off a massive box when they fired Trent Baalke. It might've come a bit too late, but they can finally begin the path toward respectability.

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