BS Meter: ‘Respectfully separating’ the Jaguars Trent Baalke statement from reality

Shad Khan finally did what he was scared to do when the season ended. He finally "separated from" Trent Baalke as general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I can’t lie either, Khan couldn’t have chosen a worse time to make the most important decision regarding this team’s future. 

Quite frankly it’s a move that shouldn’t have taken this long to make. There was no need for Baalke to stick around this long. Especially if you were going to fire him, or “respectfully separate” anyway. 

Jaguars fans deserve better. Two years ago, they were a team that looked ready to be a real contender in the AFC. Then Doug Pederson and Baalke as a duo ran this team into the ground. For some reason, Khan wasn’t ready to accept that. 

Until he realized no coach worth their reputation would put their coaching future in the hands of a general manager that’s failing. Now the Jaguars are in a worse position, behind the eight-ball and going to be scrambling more than Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys to get back on track. 

Shad Khan realized he messed up retaining Trent Baalke and now the Jaguars have more questions than answers

The reality is, Khan knew he messed up. For some reason he was loyal to a GM that wasn’t producing. This was the same GM responsible for throwing a crazy contract at Christian Kirk that hasn’t gotten close to paying out. 

He was the same GM that essentially came in with Pederson and oversaw the downfall of the Jaguars almost as quickly as they looked like an AFC contender. As far as I’m concerned, Baalke is at the center of the Jaguars’ struggles. 

Khan being too scared to fire Baalke when he fired Pederson possibly cost him Ben Johnson, who would have given the entire AFC a run for their money with that roster. It probably cost them a real shot at Aaron Glenn, and puts them behind every other team that’s been interviewing for their head coach position since the season ended. 

This is just the latest reason the Jaguars haven’t been taken seriously, even when they have the roster to compete in the AFC South and the rest of the conference. And now they have to hire a coach and GM. Just like a coach isn’t going to go to a situation with a GM on the hot seat, it’s less attractive if they don’t even know who the GM is going to be. 

It would take a home run coach to have some pull in who the GM is. Jacksonville has its work cut out for them. Best of luck; they’re going to need it.