Tom Coughlin

Fallout From Eli Manning Benching

November 28th, 2017 at 7:16pm CST by Sam Robinson

The second-longest start streak in quarterback history will come to an end after the Giants decided to bench Eli Manning in favor of Geno Smith. This naturally leads to speculation that the 36-year-old quarterback has played his final down with the team. In his Tuesday press conference, Ben McAdoo did not specify the role Jerry Reese and John Mara played in making the move to bench Manning, via Ed Werder (on Twitter). McAdoo merely said all parties were in agreement. The second-year Giants coach also said the team is not considering waiving Manning, who has two years and more than $40MM remaining on his contract. Smith is not under contract beyond 2017.

Here’s more from the Giants cutting the cord on Manning after 210 starts.

Tom Coughlin came out in support of his former quarterback and said he was “very upset” to hear the news Manning had been benched. “My sentiments are totally with Eli Manning,” the Jaguars‘ executive VP said (via NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo, on Twitter). “I love the kid. He is a class act. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion. He is the finest, most humblest young man in that locker room. I haven’t followed the Giants. I know it’s a disappointing year by my thoughts are strictly with Eli. I’m very upset about when I heard that.” This stands to naturally fuel buzz about Manning being a 2018 Jaguars target. Coughlin running the Jags, who can cut bait on Blake Bortles‘ non-guaranteed 2018 option before free agency, and their rebuilt defense thriving makes north Florida a logical fit.
Manning has a no-trade clause in his contract, but after Tuesday’s events, the two-time Super Bowl MVP may be more inclined to waive it for a chance at another starting job. Conor Orr of SI.com lists the Jaguars as a fit, while placing the Broncos and Cardinals as the other top two destinations. The Broncos are in a similar place to the Jags, only with their quarterback woes having removed them from a Super Bowl perch, and the Cardinals will likely again be waiting on a Carson Palmer retirement decision. The Palmer-to-Manning switch would be interesting given that Palmer is only a month older than Manning.
As for a Manning/Coughlin reunion, Joel Corry of CBS Sports tweets the Jags could create $19MM in cap space by cutting Bortles after this season. That option doesn’t become fully guaranteed until Day 5 of the 2018 league year (March 14). Prior to a Bortles cut, the Jags have just more than $30MM in projected 2018 cap space. The Broncos have $32MM-plus, and the Cardinals — with Palmer’s 2018 salary on their books as of now — stand to hold more than $35MM.
This decision was certainly brought down from higher than McAdoo, Dan Graziano of ESPN.com writes, and the current HC feels like the next scapegoat for the Giants’ woeful season. Reese should be on the chopping block as well, Graziano writes, noting that were that to happen, there would be front office and scouting department turnover as well as a likely McAdoo ouster.
Manning will be due a $5MM roster bonus on March 14 if he’s still on the Giants, per Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Yates adds the Giants can save $9.8MM if Manning is cut or traded, but they’ll be taking on $12.4MM in that scenario. Manning has a $22.2MM cap figure in 2018 and a $23.2MM number in ’19. Manning’s $10.5MM base salary next season is non-guaranteed.

Coughlin: Jaguars Never Interested In Kaepernick

September 3rd, 2017 at 9:34am CST by Rory Parks

When the Jaguars opened up their quarterback competition in August (only to close it again one week later), there was some speculation that Jacksonville could look into signing free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. That speculation was fueled in part by club owner Shad Khan, who said that he would “absolutely” be okay with his team signing Kaepernick if his football people recommended him.

That never happened, and when Blake Bortles was named the starting quarterback last week, the Kaepernick-to-Jacksonville chatter, such as it was, died down. But unless Bortles flashes some hitherto unsuspected ability, the Jaguars will still have a glaring need at the quarterback position. Indeed, the club has enough talent that it could conceivably make a playoff push in a shaky AFC South if it can get consistent QB play, and some believe that Kaepernick would represent enough of an upgrade to get the Jags back to the postseason.

However, executive vice president of football operations Tom Coughlin has emphatically quashed the Kaepernick discussion. When asked if he ever considered Kaepernick, Coughlin said, “No, I didn’t. We did the study and the research and we weren’t interested.” When asked for his reasoning, Coughlin said, “No, I’m not explaining it. I just said what it is” (Twitter link via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union).

Of course, this will be construed in some segments as an unenlightened decision to decline adding a player that might improve the club because that player took advantage of his freedom of expression and alienated a large portion of the NFL’s fanbase in the process. And maybe that segment would be right. But Coughlin is an intelligent football man, and as Kaepernick is a system quarterback whose salary demands and current commitment to football are largely unknown, it is fair to think that Coughlin’s decision was football-driven.

AFC Rumors: Osweiler, Flacco, Bills, Jaguars

August 18th, 2017 at 9:37pm CST by Sam Robinson

Earlier this week, Joe Thomas was asked if he could name all 18 quarterbacks the Browns have started during his tenure. The perennial All-Pro left tackle passed the test, and with Cody Kessler having been demoted to third string for now, that number figures to expand to at least 19 this season. Thomas believes the other veteran in the clubhouse will be the Week 1 starter.

“I might be going out on a limb here, but I think they’re grooming Brock (Osweiler) to be the starter in Week 1 based on what I’ve seen,” Thomas said, via the Associated Press’ Tom Withers. “It is a competition, but I would expect Brock to win because of his experience.”

Osweiler’s primary competition is now DeShone Kizer, the team’s second-round pick who fared well against Saints backups in the Browns’ preseason opener. Kizer remains in the mix due to a combination of physical skills and instincts for the position, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com notes.

Here’s the latest out of the AFC:

John Harbaugh, per Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com, said Joe Flacco won’t practice this coming week as the Ravens starting quarterback continues to recover from a back injury. This will mean four straight weeks without practice for the 10th-year passer, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport points out (via Twitter). The plan remains for Flacco to start in Week 1 against the Bengals, but if the 32-year-old signal-caller doesn’t practice during Week 3 of the preseason, the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zreibec notes (on Twitter) Flacco will get two weeks at most of work before the Baltimore opener. And Zreibec is skeptical he will get that much work (Twitter link).
Reggie Ragland has yet to assimilate well into Sean McDermott‘s scheme, and Vic Carucci of the Buffalo News expects the Bills to attempt to trade the ex-Alabama stalwart. Carucci notes a trade to a team that uses a 3-4 defense would make sense. Buffalo has shifted to a 4-3, and the 2016 second-round pick’s current status — stationed on the third team — is not exactly acceptable for such a big recent investment. PFR’s Dallas Robinson put Ragland on his list of trade candidates.
Should Cordy Glenn‘s foot trouble linger much longer, Carucci expects the Bills to target outside tackle help. Specifying the waiver wire as the player-procurement practice of choice to add a tackle, Carucci notes second-round rookie Dion Dawkins would be the top in-house option to start there if Glenn is unable to man his post. After Austin Pasztor‘s Falcons agreement, the tackle market looks thin. McDermott said (via Mike Rodak of ESPN.com) he’s not quite ready to relocate Dawkins from the right tackle competition, where he’s battling incumbent Jordan Mills. However, Dawkins took left-edge reps Friday in practice, while Seantrel Henderson — suspended for the season’s first five games — lined up at right tackle.
Tom Coughlin‘s brought some old-school training techniques to Jaguars camp. Albert Breer of SI.com observed the Jags doing up-downs following their joint practice with the Patriots, and this didn’t sit well with some Jacksonville players. One told Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio the rarely utilized conditioning method will shorten his career “by at least two years.” While that may be an extreme estimate, Florio adds other Jaguars have grumbled about the throwback conditioning style. Florio notes Coughlin is believed to have pushed for a greater conditioning emphasis.

NFLPA Probing Jaguars For CBA Violation

March 24th, 2017 at 5:24pm CST by Sam Robinson

Tom Coughlin‘s return to Jacksonville may encounter some mild turbulence this offseason. A letter from the new Jaguars executive VP to several players is now the subject of an NFLPA investigation, with Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union reporting a possible CBA violation occurred this month.

Coughlin sent a letter to several Jaguars players currently under contract saying they needed to report to the team’s facility for a physical earlier this month. However, the Jags do not begin their offseason program until April 10, and multiple sources informed O’Halloran the league’s CBA does not permit this request.

A player who does not live in Jacksonville who balked at paying his own travel expenses to return for this surprise request is believed to have notified his agent, who then alerted the NFLPA, per O’Halloran. Jags players are not allowed at their facility until that April date. Several players, though, were advised by their agents to follow through with the physical even as the investigation transpires. O’Halloran reports a possible punishment for the franchise will be the forfeiture of an OTA this spring.

This potential violation, though, does not appear to be as severe as the one the Ravens were found guilty of last year. Baltimore had to forfeit a week’s worth of OTAs for its practice-related infraction last year. The Seahawks and Falcons will also have fewer than the allowed 10 OTA sessions this year due to violations.

Shad Khan On Coughlin, Caldwell, HC Search

February 4th, 2017 at 4:11pm CST by Sam Robinson

During interviews with the franchise’s first head coach, Shad Khan said Tom Coughlin did not ask for control over the Jaguars’ 53-man roster. But the owner gave it to the former Jags and Giants HC despite Coughlin not having any NFL executive experience.

“For this thing to work, Tom can’t be a hood ornament,” Khan said, via Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union. “For him to contribute, he has to have some authority and this is one way of giving him the authority. In all fairness, he never asked for it. The more I thought about it and reflected on it, he doesn’t want to be a pencil-pushing executive. We want his experience and his judgment to help the Jags win.”

This will mean a lesser role for GM Dave Caldwell, who will sink a notch lower on the Jags’ totem pole behind the franchise’s new executive vice president. Khan respects the way Caldwell constructed the roster while noting the 42-year-old executive could learn from the 70-year-old Coughlin.

“I think Dave’s done a great job on talent, but he’s a young guy. I think he can learn lot from Tom. There might be a natural human emotion [from Caldwell] of, ‘Gee …’ but I think if you look at what’s best for the Jaguars, I think this is the structure,” Khan said, via John Oehser of Jaguars.com. “Dave gets to do the talent, and I think he’s worked hard. It’s, ‘How do we get more wins?’”

Khan acknowledged the disparity between the interest in the Jaguars’ HC job in 2013 compared to the 2016-17 search that ended with interim HC Doug Marrone in the top sideline spot. While promoting the interim HC doesn’t sound as glamorous as hiring then-Seahawks DC Gus Bradley, Khan, via Oehser, pointed to the talent on the roster making a different impression this time around. The Jaguars have not won more than five games in a season since 2010 but were a trendy pick to make some noise last season.

“I think the big difference was we had a huge amount of interest this time around. The most important thing was really getting it down to the short list [of candidates], and literally anybody and everybody we wanted to talk to was interested. It also confirmed that we do have the talent. Otherwise there wouldn’t be the interest. Four years ago that was the common thread – that ‘you guys are so far [from contending]’ that they [candidates] could get something more to their liking. This time around we had the talent and we had the interest.”

Chip Kelly To Meet With Patriots?

January 20th, 2017 at 12:03pm CST by Sam Robinson

Following the Jaguars’ decision not to hire Chip Kelly as their offensive coordinator, the recently fired coach plans to meet with the Patriots, Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com reports. Details of this meeting are scarce, but Mortensen points to Kelly having an advocate for a place in the NFL in Bill Belichick. The perennially successful Patriots coach and Kelly have exchanged football concepts since Kelly’s days at Oregon, per Mortensen.

Tom Coughlin was behind the push for Kelly to receive an extensive look for the Jags’ OC job, and the former Eagles and 49ers coach believed he would be offered the position during his interview earlier this week. Although Coughlin urged Doug Marrone to explore adding Kelly to the Jacksonville staff as OC or in another offensive capacity, Marrone didn’t end up seeing a fit. The Jags gave the job to interim OC Nathaniel Hackett, but Kelly could have a chance to interview for a consultant-type role with the Patriots.

New England obviously has an offensive coordinator after Josh McDaniels announced he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the 49ers’ HC job. But the Patriots have a recent history in bringing coaches as unspecified assistants.

After an unmemorable stint as the Rams’ OC, McDaniels returned to New England during the 2011 playoffs despite Bill O’Brien‘s then-presence as the team’s OC. However, O’Brien had announced he was taking the Penn State job in the days prior, so a more logical role existed for McDaniels than one would for Kelly. Brian Daboll also rejoined his former team during the 2012 playoffs after being fired by the Chiefs, adding to the unique history here.

The Jaguars’ job and this prospective summit represent the only known NFL offseason interest for Kelly, whom the 49ers fired after a 2-14 season.

Jaguars Notes: Coughlin, Bortles, Flaherty

January 14th, 2017 at 2:23pm CST by Sam Robinson

While it could have been assumed newly hired Jaguars executive VP Tom Coughlin would have final say over the team’s 53-man roster, no more assumptions are required. The veteran coach and first-time exec will have the final say on the 2017 roster, stripping some power from GM Dave Caldwell, owner Shad Khan said. Caldwell had been in charge of the Jacksonville football operations since 2013.

Coughlin interviewed for the Jags’ HC position but said he prefers the VP job he acquired instead. The 70-year-old provided two of his top coaching choices to Khan, and Doug Marrone was one of those two. Khan added that the decision “wasn’t close” between Marrone and the other coaches the team interviewed during this hiring process.

In addition to Coughlin and Marrone, the Jags also met with Josh McDaniels, Kyle Shanahan, Mike Smith and Harold Goodwin. Marrone is 16-18 in two-plus years as a head coach.

Here’s the latest coming out of Jacksonville.

The Jaguars hired Pat Flaherty to become their offensive line coach, the team announced today. Flaherty worked under Coughlin in each of his 12 seasons as the Giants’ HC, instructing the Giants’ offensive linemen from 2004-15. The 60-year-old Flaherty spent this past season as the OL coach for the 49ers.
During the Jags’ time without a full-time head coach, the word coming down from the front office was one of hesitancy regarding Blake Bortles, with Caldwell saying the next coach would not have to commit to the former No. 3 overall pick. But Coughlin shut down notions the team will attempt to replace Bortles this offseason. “Blake Bortles is our quarterback,” Coughlin said, via Lindsay Jones of USA Today. Marrone’s belief in Bortles impacted the hiring decision. Bortles’ quarterback rating plummeted from 88.2 to 78.8 this season, but it’s safe to assume after this declaration the Jags are planning to pick up his fifth-year option.
The Jaguars will have extensive sideline continuity despite finishing the season 3-13, retaining both coordinators in Nethanial Hackett (offense) and Todd Wash (defense).
Jacksonville brought over Denver special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis to work in the same capacity.

Reactions to Jaguars’ Hirings

January 9th, 2017 at 8:25pm CST by Ben Levine

The Jaguars have officially announced the hiring of head coach Doug Marrone and Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin. The organization also announced the two-year extension for general manager Dave Caldwell. Owner Shad Khan released a statement regarding the moves (via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport on Twitter):

“I have confidence that one day soon we’ll look back on today’s news as the moment that inspired and ultimately established the Jacksonville Jaguars as a football team that wins, week to week and season to season.

“I am honored to welcome Tom Coughlin back to Jacksonville, where winning was customary under his leadership. I know he expects the same in his return to head our football operations, and that’s good news for us and Jaguars fans everywhere. The extension of Dave Caldwell’s contract speaks to his excellent work thus far and the continued importance of complementing our talented and promising roster.

“I am particularly enthused to introduce Doug Marrone as our new head coach. Doug is a strong football man in every respect and offers us qualities that will serve us well in all facets of the team, from the meeting rooms to game day and much more. The results will speak for themselves in time, but with Tom coming in to join Dave and Doug, there is no question the Jacksonville Jaguars are a stronger football team today.”

Let’s take a look at some reactions out of Jacksonville following the organization’s busy day…

Caldwell will report to Coughlin, reports ESPN.com’s Mike DiRocco. The writer assumes that Coughlin “will have final say over personnel issues as well as the draft,” although the organization hasn’t confirmed whether this will be the case. A source told Ryan O’Halloran of the Florida Times-Union (via Twitter) that Coughlin presumably “has the final say on everything.”
Marrone believes Blake Bortles can be a franchise quarterback, and this mindset played a significant role in the hiring, reports Rapoport (via NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal). The organization clearly valued continuity, but Rosenthal notes that there will be “pressure on Marrone and Caldwell to turn Jacksonville’s fortunes around quickly.”
Bortles certainly sounded optimistic about the hiring. “I think Doug has earned the respect of the offensive players and I’m excited for him to get this opportunity and the direction of this team,” Bortles told DiRocco.
Rosenthal notes that offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett will presumably keep his role. Hackett worked under Marrone with Syracuse and the Bills.
Meanwhile, Albert Breer of TheMMQB.com tweets that the Jaguars’ defensive coaches were told they’d be retained if Marrone got the job. Alex Marvez of The Sporting News provides even more clarity (on Twitter), noting that the team will at least be keeping defensive coordinator Todd Wash and linebackers coach Robert Saleh.
Mike Smith was thought to be a close second for the Jaguars job, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports tweets. The former Falcons head coach served as the Buccaneers defensive coordinator this past season. In seven seasons in Atlanta, Smith led his squad to a 66-46 record and four playoff births. Roy Cummings of FloridaFootballInsiders.com writes that Smith is still in the running for the Chargers‘ head coaching gig.

Zach Links contributed to this report.

Jaguars Hire Tom Coughlin As Executive VP

January 9th, 2017 at 3:46pm CST by Zachary Links

The Jaguars are hiring their former head coach Tom Coughlin as their Executive Vice President of Football Operations, a source tells ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter (on Twitter). Meanwhile, general manager Dave Caldwell will stay in place thanks to a two-year extension (Twitter link via Mark Long of The Associated Press). It’s a two-year deal for Coughlin, as well, tying all major players to the organization through 2019.

Coughlin, 71 in August, was a candidate for the team’s head coaching gig in this cycle, but that job went to Doug Marrone earlier today. Most people in their 70s move to Florida for sunshine and golf, but Coughlin doesn’t have much interest in either. When he parted ways with the Giants last year, Coughlin stayed involved in football with a job in the league office. This year, Coughlin was hinting strongly that he wanted to coach again. His age and aggressive style probably hindered him from returning to the sidelines, but he has found a prominent role in an organization he knows well.

While Coughlin doesn’t technically have any experience as an NFL executive, he essentially acted as the Jaguars’ general manager during his head coaching run with the team from 1995-2002.

AFC Notes: Jags, Pats, Browns, Jets, Chiefs

December 30th, 2016 at 5:06pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Thanks to the now-fired Gus Bradley‘s disastrous stint as a first-time head coach, the Jaguars are unlikely to hire a replacement who doesn’t bring prior experience, league sources told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen. That makes it all the more probable the team will tab a previously reported candidate like Tom Coughlin, who interviewed Wednesday, interim head coach Doug Marrone or ex-Falcons head coach and current Buccaneers defensive coordinator Mike Smith. Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Steelers O-coordinator Todd Haley have also been head coaches, but it’s unlikely either will end up a match for Jacksonville, per Mortensen.