JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars are taking advantage of the new NFL rule that allows them to begin interviewing potential head coach candidates with two weeks remaining in the season.
The new rule put in place this year allows teams that have either already let go of their head coach at some point during the season, or formally informed their current coach that he will not be retained, a leg up on the interview process to fill that position.
The Jaguars, according to multiple reports, have already set up interviews with "free agent" head coaches in former Eagles coach Doug Pederson and former Lions coach Jim Caldwell.
Jacksonville has also reportedly requested interviews with Bucs offensive coordinator and former Jaguars QB Byron Leftwich, Bucs defensive coordinator and former Jets head coach Todd Bowles, Colts DC Matt Eberflus, Cowboys OC Kellen Moore, Packers OC Nathaniel Hackett and Cowboys DC Dan Quinn, who reportedly will not be interviewing for the position during the season.
On Wednesday's Locked On Today podcast, Locked On Jaguars podcast host Tony Wiggins joins Peter Bukowski to talk about the potential coaches he's most interested as Jacksonville searches for a new leader.
SUBSCRIBE: The Locked On Today podcast hosted by Peter Bukowski gets you caught up every morning on the biggest stories in sports without taking up your free time.
The Jaguars fired head coach Urban Meyer on Dec. 16, just 13 games into his tenure after a tumultuous season both on and off the field for Meyer.
Other than the Raiders with Jon Gruden's resignation, the Jaguars are the only team currently allowed to begin interviewing for their head coach vacancy. And it's likely the Raiders won't begin until after the season given their playoff opportunity.
Locked On Jaguars host Tony Wiggins said while many people think you have to go after a former quarterback or a heavily-offensive minded coach now, he believes that the right candidate could be from a number of different backgrounds.
"I think of Mike Tomlin, who's a defensive guy, and I think of Bill Belichick, who's a defensive guy, and I think of a lot of the successful NFL coaches that are defensive oriented that have a strong offensive staff and basically turn that side of the ball over to that staff," Wiggins said.
Wiggins said Kellen Moore is very popular with a lot of fans for the position because of his former quarterback status and his offensive-mindedness. He's currently leading a high-powered Cowboys offense. Doug Pederson is also a popular candidate because of his offensive-mindedness and his Super Bowl win with the Philadelphia Eagles.
SUBSCRIBE to the daily Locked On Jaguars podcast, your show for all things Jacksonville Jaguars. Free and available on all platforms
But, Wiggins said his top candidate is a guy who was let go by Detroit after back-to-back 9-7 seasons and three winning seasons out of four.
"I'm in big favor of Caldwell because I believe he can leave a lasting impression," Wiggins said on the Locked On Today podcast, while joking that he won Joe Flacco of all people a Super Bowl MVP. "I think if Caldwell walks away four years from now, they could just continue on, rather than totally rebooting."
Another potential issue for Jaguars fans is owner Shad Khan is going to stick with scrutinized general manager Trent Baalke for the 2022 season, which could impact the result of this coaching search.
"It could hurt in two ways. One, it'll hurt if they really like a guy and he has multiple options, let's just say Chicago calls and he prefers the GM in Chicago. Chicago's another team with a young quarterback too and that's very attractive job," Wiggins said. "The other place it could hurt is they could come in and make demands and say, look, I need more control and I'm not gonna work for him, he's gonna work for me. And that would eliminate them if Shad Khan already has it in his mind that he's going to let Baalke be basically vice president of everything."
The Jaguars have had one winning season since 2008. They drafted former Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
They currently have the worst record in the NFL thus far this season at 2-13, potentially on their way to become the second team in 20 years with back to back No. 1 picks in consecutive drafts (Cleveland Browns, '17, '18).