Shad Khan

Gus Bradley’s Job Secure Through 2016?

October 26th, 2016 at 8:08pm CST by Sam Robinson

Jaguars owner Shad Khan addressed the team earlier this week in an attempt to address Jacksonville’s futility in what was described, via Mike DiRocco of ESPN.com, as a non-confrontational address.

However, another takeaway that appears to have emerged from the meeting: Gus Bradley‘s job could well be safe throughout the season. Due to an organizational philosophy under Khan that steers clear of in-season coach changes, the embattled fourth-year leader looks to have the rest of this season to stake his claim to the Jags’ job, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (Facebook link).

Rapoport adds a change could be made after the season if this spiral continues, and the Jags are coming off another embarrassing defeat, a 33-16 loss to the Raiders that saw multiple defensive starters get ejected and another penalized for a racial slur. The Jags are 14-40 under Bradley and 16-54 in Khan’s four-plus seasons as the owner, the first of which a 2-14 campaign in 2012 under Mike Mularkey‘s sideline leadership. Khan fired Mularkey and then-GM Gene Smith following the ’12 slate.

Khan asked several unspecified players their opinion of why the team is struggling, per DiRocco, and inquired what he could do to help the effort. Jacksonville is now 2-4 after receiving a decent amount of preseason hype.

“He said, ‘Hey, what can I do to help? Why have we gotten off to a slow start? What we can do to turn it around?’” a Jags source said, via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. “A lot of guys got up and talked, players and coaches and he sat back and listened. It was good. He didn’t make a bad thing worse.”

The former Seahawks DC would certainly be a Black Monday candidate at this rate regardless of the support Khan is showing presently.

AFC South Notes: O’Brien, Titans, Khan

January 30th, 2016 at 10:46am CST by Ben Levine

Texans head coach Bill O’Brien had a lot of good things to say about his new additions to the coaching staff. Since the end of the season, the organization has added special-teams coordinator Larry Izzo, receivers coach Sean Ryan and defensive line coach Anthony Weaver.

“Larry came highly recommended to me from a number of people,” Texans coach Bill O’Brien told Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle. “When we brought him in to interview, I thought he did an excellent job. He was able to really articulate really his plan for special teams and how he saw things.

“He had studied our tape. He kind of knew what we were doing. I was very impressed with him. I had known him as a player. I had never coached with him. I think he’s going to be a good addition to our staff.”

Check out the link to see what O’Brien also had to say about Ryan, the former Giants receivers coach, and Weaver, the former Browns defensive line coach. In the meantime, let’s take a look at some more notes from around the AFC South…

The Titans will have some interesting decisions to make with the top overall pick in the draft, writes Jim Wyatt of TitansOnline.com. The writer currently opines that the team should look to trade the pick for extra assets, although he notes that that’s easier said than done.
Wyatt writes that the team could use help on the offensive line and at running back, although the writer wouldn’t be a fan of signing Ray Rice. Wyatt also points to the secondary and linebackers as areas that could use some reinforcement.
At the Jaguars‘ State of the Franchise meeting, owner Shad Khan was adamant that the franchise will be staying in Jacksonville. “This is a community that has supported this franchise faithfully and impressively for over two decades,” he said (via Ryan O’Halloran of Jacksonville.com). “And we don’t want to just exist here, we want to flourish here.”

Jaguars Owner on Bradley, Caldwell, Future

October 24th, 2015 at 9:04am CST by Ben Levine

The Jaguars certainly spent some money this offseason, committing more than $70MM in guaranteed money to the likes of Julius Thomas, Jared Odrick, Jermey Parnell, Davon House, Dan Skuta and Tyson Alualu.

Ownership certainly hasn’t received the production they had been anticipating, as the Jaguars have gotten off to a 1-5 start. This has led some to question the job security of head coach Gus Bradley and general manager Dave Caldwell.

Prior to his team’s game in London tomorrow, owner Shad Khan was clear that no changes are imminent, but he did acknowledge that his franchise is struggling. To see what else the owner had to say, check out some other quotes below, all via Ryan O’Halloran of Jacksonville.com…

On whether Bradley or Caldwell’s jobs are in jeopardy:

“The only sane – and the only proper thing to do [is to make no in-season changes]. It has never even crossed my mind from that viewpoint.

“Believe me, they want to have success more than any of us do. They’re highly motivated. I think they’re really disappointed we’re not having the success we should [be having]. We have to see how the season unfolds. There is more than half the season out there and then we’ll be able to see what’s been done.”

On whether the team has taken a step back from 2014:

“Life in general and football in particular, it’s not a straight line going up. We know where the starting point was and we want to see where the ending point is and what the journey has been over the last three years.”

On whether the team has enough roster talent to be competitive:

“There are a lot of pieces in place there are certainly a lot of reasons for encouragement. But eventually, the way you measure a football team, or any sports team, is by wins and losses.

“It’s very, very important that we don’t become a victim of the status quo. The performance and actions on the field is what dictate [what happens] going forward.”

Jags Owner Talks London, Front Office, FAs

November 8th, 2014 at 8:25am CST by Ben Levine

As the Jaguars prepare to take on the Cowboys in London tomorrow, Jacksonville owner Shad Khan spoke to a group of reporters at a Hyde Park hotel earlier this morning. This included Ryan O’Halloran of the The Florida Times-Union, who compiled the owner’s various quotes. The whole piece is worth checking out, but we’ve collected some of the more interesting notes below…

On his team playing in London for the second consecutive year, and the team’s scheduled game in 2015:

“We have to look at where we are as a franchise in Jacksonville, how many tickets we’re selling and what are the [fan and business] engagements. Everything is geared toward stabilizing the franchise in Jacksonville.

“Our goal is we want to sell out every game. It’s money [from ticket sales], but more importantly, it’s the energy in the stadium. We want to have the home-field advantage. We have that [scheduling] flexibility now. Last year, we thought we really needed the 49ers to help us and they did that.”

On the team’s competitive play:

“That is very, very encouraging to me. have a huge amount of confidence in [general manager] Dave [Caldwell] and [coach] Gus [Bradley] and they’re encouraged. Some of these players are the future of the franchise and will be with us for a long time. It’s very important they mature, but we want them to mature quicker.”

On free agency:

“We were active this year – look at our defensive line, which is pretty good and they’re mostly free agents. We’re going to be very active for a number of reasons. Other teams don’t have the luxury we have – they have constraints and can’t sign everyone. We’ll be on the flip side.”