Jaguars Expected To Hire 49ers’ Ethan Waugh As Assistant GM

The Jaguars are expected to hire a key 49ers executive to be Trent Baalke‘s right-hand man. Ex-Baalke 49ers lieutenant Ethan Waugh is on track to be the Jaguars’ next assistant GM, Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com tweets.

Baalke has offered Waugh the job, and Wagoner adds the former is expected to join Jacksonville’s front office after the draft. Waugh has been with the 49ers for 17 years, some of those coming during Baalke’s GM run in San Francisco.

Waugh works as the 49ers’ vice president of player personnel, being promoted earlier this offseason. He joined the 49ers as an assistant and became an area scout in 2008. Under Baalke’s leadership, Waugh rose to the title of senior personnel coordinator. Prior to his most recent promotion, Waugh served as the 49ers’ college scouting director.

An assistant GM bump will be a nice boost for Waugh, who will be a key player in helping craft the latest Jaguars rebuild effort. With Urban Meyer gone after less than a year, Baalke is leading the way here. It remains to be seen if the team’s Rick Spielman connections will produce a hire. Nothing has emerged on that front in several weeks. Spielman interviewed for an executive VP position that would outrank Baalke, but the former Vikings GM has not been hired. He later interviewed for the Steelers’ GM position. Waugh’s hire does not necessarily stonewall a Spielman addition, with a separate report indicating Shad Khan was looking to hire an exec to work above Baalke in addition to a key staffer below the GM level.

This will represent another personnel loss for the 49ers, who lost Martin Mayhew in 2021; Mayhew is now Washington’s GM. The 49ers have also seen Adam Peters and Ran Carthon receive GM interviews, though both remain on staff.