HEADLINES

Josh Williams (exec)

James Gladstone, Josh Williams Among Finalists For Jaguars’ GM Position

February 15th, 2025 at 8:18pm CST by Adam La Rose

Saturday has seen the Jaguars narrow down their general manager search to a list of finalists. Second interviews are already known to be on tap for external candidates Ian Cunningham and Jon-Eric Sullivan along with interim GM Ethan Waugh. Two other staffers are still in the running, however.

The team announced Saturday that Rams director of scouting strategy James Gladstone and 49ers scouting and football operations director Josh Williams will also take part in a second meeting. After the Jags’ first set of interviews took place virtually, the five finalists will speak in person for their follow-ups. The final round will begin on February 19.

Jacksonville is known to want a GM hire in place before the start of the Combine, but the team’s timeline for this process will leave only a small window for the incoming executive to prepare for the event or work on building a staff. The Combine will kick off on the 24th, with drills beginning on the 27th. The Jags will need to move quickly in the second round of interviews to finalize a hire.

Gladstone was not connected to any of the other three general manager openings in the 2025 hiring cycle, but his performance during his initial meeting obviously went well. Gladstone has been with the Rams for eight seasons, making him a familiar face to new head coach Liam Coen due to his time spent in Los Angeles. Despite the fact he is a first-time head coach, the latter is playing a central role in the GM search process.

Williams was the first candidate to interview with the Jaguars, the only team which spoke with him about a 2025 vacancy. He is worked in San Francisco for the past 14 seasons, working his way up the ranks in the organization’s scouting department. Williams overlapped with former GM Trent Baalke, whose 49ers tenure was followed by a four-year run in the same position with Jacksonville. Baalke appeared to be safe after the 2024 campaign, but in the process of hiring Coen away from the Buccaneers owner Shad Khan reversed course and dismissed Baalke.

Khan and Co. could elect to once again bring in a 49ers staffer to lead the front office, but four other options (including promoting from within) remain on the table at this point. Giants assistant GM Brandon Brown was reported earlier this week to have a strong connection with Coen regarding his roster-building philosophy, but he is not among the finalists. It will be interesting to see how the second round of interviews shakes out once it begins.

Jaguars To Conduct GM Interview With Terrance Gray; Internal Candidates In Play?

February 11th, 2025 at 1:01pm CST by Sam Robinson

The list of candidates for the Jaguars’ general manager position continues to grow. As the team searches for Trent Baalke‘s replacement, internal and external staffers are receiving consideration.

Jacksonville will interview Bills vice president of player personnel Terrance Gray this week, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. The summit will take place tomorrow, per Bovada’s Josina Anderson. This will mark the second time Gray has met with an interested team for a GM gig this year. He was a finalist for the Titans’ position before they ultimately tapped Mike Borgonzi for the job.

This is the only GM search remaining, and eight confirmed candidates are in play. Though, more may be on the horizon. Around 10 candidates are believed to be in play, per Rapoport, even though the full list is not yet known. At least one of them is an internal staffer, however. That exec’s name has yet to surface. Interim GM Ethan Waugh remains with the franchise and is playing a key role, albeit as a secondary decision-maker to new HC Liam Coen, during this process.

One of Waugh’s former 49ers coworkers, Josh Williams, will go through with his GM interview Tuesday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets. The San Francisco scouting director is an interesting candidate, as he worked under Baalke with the NFC West club. Baalke hired Williams during his 49ers GM tenure, and he overlapped with Waugh for several years.

The Jags are set to conduct their first round of interviews over Zoom this week, according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones, and they are aiming to have a GM in place by the time the Combine begins. The annual Indianapolis-based scouting event is set to start Feb. 24, with position drills beginning on the 27th.

As for Gray, he has been on the GM interview circuit for a bit. In addition to his Titans meetings, the veteran Bills exec met with the Chargers and Raiders last year. He was among the execs to decline a Patriots interview, as a few minority staffers correctly assumed the meetings were to check a Rooney Rule box in order to officially promote Eliot Wolf. Gray has been with the Bills since the first Sean McDermott-Brandon Beane offseason (2017) and has held his current title since 2022.

With Buffalo having won five straight AFC East titles and qualified for the playoffs in seven of the eight seasons since the top duo’s arrival, it makes sense teams continue to look into their staffers. Gray is set to make his case for another AFC team. Via PFR’s GM Search Tracker, is how this process looks as interviews begin:

Adam La Rose contributed to this post.

Jaguars Request GM Interview With 49ers’ Josh Williams

February 4th, 2025 at 9:03pm CST by Nikhil Mehta

The Jaguars have ramped up their general manager search process, requesting an interview with 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Williams has spent the last 14 seasons with the 49ers, starting as a scouting assistant in 2011. He then spent three years as a pro personnel scout before moving to college scouting. Williams was an area scout from 2017 to 2021 and a national scout from 2022 to 2023. He was then promoted to his current title where he “directs pro and college scouting efforts, supports player development, and assists in contract negotiations,” according to his team bio.

It’s difficult to attribute an individual scout’s contributions to his team’s draft classes, but the 49ers unearthed several future stars on Day 3 during Williams’ tenure. That list includes George Kittle, Dre Greenlaw, and Brock Purdy, though the team’s recent history on Days 1 and 2 is less consistent.

Williams certainly played a major role in the 49ers’ last offseason, which featured several veteran signings on defense with mixed results. Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos combined for 12.5 sacks, but De’Vondre Campbell and Jordan Elliott struggled to make an impact.

It’s still too early for definitive conclusions on San Francisco’s 2024 draft class, but initial returns have been positive. Renardo Green, Dominick Puni, and Malik Mustapha all earned starting roles as rookies, while Ricky Pearsall and Isaac Guerendo both flashed in limited roles on offense.

Williams will join a growing list of candidates for the Jaguars’ general manager job. Below are the rest of the names connected with the vacancy:

2025 NFL General Manager Search Tracker

January 8th, 2025 at 6:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Titans and Raiders again became part of a GM carousel in the 2020s. Tennessee canned its front office boss after two seasons, while Las Vegas moved on after one. These two joined the Jets, and after two-plus offseason weeks, the Jaguars followed suit by firing Trent Baalke. With the Titans, Raiders and Jets landing on GMs, the Jags are the only team left searching. Here is how the GM market looks:

Updated 2-21-25 (4:00pm CT)

Jacksonville Jaguars

Las Vegas Raiders

New York Jets

Tennessee Titans