The Jaguars overhauled the coaching staff underneath head coach Gus Bradley this offseason. Jacksonville added years of high-level NFL experience to the offensive side but, as we know, sometimes too many cooks can spoil the broth. At a press conference earlier today, the Jaguars discussed the breakdown of responsibilities for their coaches heading into 2015 and much more. Here’s a look at the highlights and other news out of Jacksonville..
- Jaguars wide receiver Justin Blackmon has made some progress towards his reinstatement but still has a ways to go, according to Albert Breer of NFL.com (Twitter links). Blackmon still has to satisfy criteria within the drug program and then apply for reinstatement.
- New Jags offensive line coach Doug Marrone told reporters, including Michael DiRocco of ESPN.com, that he left the Bills without any guarantees of landing a head coaching gig elsewhere.
- Marrone has taken heat for his departure from Buffalo but he defended himself from that criticism while emphasizing that he wants to move forward. “At the end of the day, I had two outstanding years in Buffalo,” Marrone said, according to DiRocco. “I think that Terry and Kim Pegula, they’re going to be outstanding. I really can’t say enough for the people within the organization, from the trainers, from the PR department, from the equipment people. They were outstanding. At the end of the day, I had a three-day window on my contract, which was obviously difficult because of the time aspect of it. My family and I made a decision to leave.”
- The challenge, Bradley says will be ensuring that offensive coordinator Greg Olson, Marrone, and quarterbacks coach Nathaniel Hackett all work together cohesively, DiRocco tweets. All three men are former offensive coordinators. Bradley added that he doesn’t want to run the Raiders offense or the Bills offense – he wants to put together what’s best for his players (via Vito Stellino of The Florida Times-Union on Twitter).
- Bradley said he didn’t know much about Marrone before he started talking to him, according to John Oehser of Jaguars.com (on Twitter). The head coach did talk extensively before hiring him, however.
- Bradley said he didn’t talk much to Marrone about how things ended in Buffalo, Stellino tweets. Marrone originally came by just to discuss football philosophy and not to interview, which is why they didn’t get in depth on that (via DiRocco on Twitter).
- New offensive coordinator Greg Olson said that he had a good experience in Jacksonville in 2012 and is appreciative of the chance to return, according to DiRocco (on Twitter). He was also surprised by the number of different faces that he saw since he was with the Jags in 2012 under Mike Mularkey (link).
- Adam Gase, Olson, and Marrone all interviewed with the team at the same time, DiRocco tweets.
- Olson said he talked to the Bears and Rams about offensive coordinator openings, but he didn’t officially interview, Ryan O’Halloran of The Florida Times-Union tweets.
- The Jaguars have made a few tweaks to their coaching staff, moving quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo to senior offensive assistant and adding the title of run-game coordinator to defensive line coach Todd Wash’s job, according to O’Halloran (Twitter links).