JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After only 13 games into his NFL head coaching debut, the Jacksonville Jaguars have fired Urban Meyer. The team made the announcement late Wednesday following Meyer's short stint that was marred in questionable conduct.
The team named Offensive Coordinator Darrell Bevell as its interim head coach, but who might the Jaguars name permanently?
Here are First Coast News' #TeamSide's Top 5 picks for the Jaguars next head coach.
No. 1: Josh McDaniels
McDaniels was named New England Patriots offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach for the 2012 season after he re-joined the Patriots coaching staff in January 2012 as an offensive assistant. This is his 18th season with the Patriots overall and his 13th as the team's offensive coordinator. In 12 seasons as offensive coordinator, McDaniels has guided the offense to eight top-10 rankings, including the NFL's No. 1 ranked offense in 2007, 2012 and 2017. McDaniels has been part of six Super Bowl championships with New England, three as the team's offensive coordinator.
No. 2: Byron Leftwich
Leftwich is in his third season as Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator. A first-round pick (seventh overall) of the Jaguars in 2003, Leftwich spent four seasons with Jacksonville, including helping the team earn an AFC Wild Card berth in 2005.
Leftwich played quarterback for 10 seasons in the NFL, spending time with the Jacksonville Jaguars (2003-06), Atlanta Falcons (2007), Pittsburgh Steelers (2008, 2010-12) and Buccaneers (2009). He started 50-of-60 career games, completing 930-of-1,605 passes (57.9 pct.) for 10,532 yards, with 58 touchdowns and 42 interceptions. He earned a Super Bowl ring with the Steelers following the team's victory in Super Bowl XLIII.
In 2016, Leftwich began his coaching career, working as an intern coach with the Arizona Cardinals, before being hired as the team's quarterbacks coach in 2017.
No. 3: Kellen Moore
Moore is in his second season as offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. In his first year at the helm of the Cowboys offense (2019), Moore presided over the NFL's top-ranked offensive attack (431.5 yards-per-game), the second-rated passing offense (296.9) and fifth-ranked running game (134.6). Moore began his coaching career with the Dallas Cowboys in 2018 after six years as an NFL quarterback, the last three in Dallas. After spending his first year in coaching as the quarterbacks coach, the Cowboys promoted Moore to offensive coordinator for the 2019 season.
No. 4: Brian Daboll
Daboll is Buffalo Bills' offensive coordinator. He won a national championship as the offensive coordinator at Alabama in 2017. Daboll coached in New England for a total of 11 seasons and won five Super Bowl titles with them as an assistant (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX and LI).
No. 5: Eric Bieniemy
Bieniemy is in his ninth season with the Kansas City Chiefs and fourth as offensive coordinator. Bieniemy previously served as the club's running backs coach (2013-17).
Under Bieniemy, the 2019 Chiefs offense finished in the top 10 in total yards per game (379.2), pass yards per game (281.1), yards per play (6.22) and total points scored (28.2). Following his nine-year NFL career, Bieniemy served as an assistant at Thomas Jefferson High in Denver prior to securing his first job as running backs coach with Coloardo. In his first two seasons coaching the position, CU ranked in the top-10 in rushing.
He was a second-round draft pick (39th overall) of the San Diego Chargers in the 1991 NFL Draft. He had a nine-year pro career with three teams: San Diego (1991-94), Cincinnati (1995-98) and Philadelphia (1999), where he played for Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid.
