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Trent Baalke, the NFL’s ultimate cockroach in a nuclear blast, finally found a disaster he couldn’t survive.
A third straight prospective Jaguars head coach pulled out of consideration rather than work with Baalke, and Jacksonville owner Shad Khan belatedly pulled the plug on the GM Wednesday afternoon.
First was Bill Belichick. “It’s highly unlikely a partnership with GM Trent Baalke would take place,” The Athletic reported about Belichick and the Jags in November.
But after all, no other NFL team wanted Belichick then either. Survivable.
Then there was Ben Johnson, arguably the hottest name of the cycle. “The Jacksonville Jaguars were also interested in Ben Johnson,” The Athletic reported, “but I’m told the setup wasn’t in line with what he was looking for in his first head coaching job.”
The last straw, apparently, was Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who had interviewed with the Jags twice. Instead of negotiating a contract with Khan and Baalke, though, Coen pulled out of consideration Wednesday.
That was it for Baalke. “Following several discussions with Trent Baalke this week, we both arrived at the conclusion that it is in our mutual best interests to respectfully separate, effective immediately,” Khan said in a statement.
Pleasing owners has been a specialty of Baalke’s. Despite a mostly rocky four years and a 25–43 record, Khan said after firing Doug Pederson that it would be “suicidal” to throw Baalke overboard, and the owner was reportedly “stunned” when Coen pulled out.
With Coen and both Lions coordinators off the board, Khan will belatedly have to attract candidates like former Jets coach Robert Saleh. (He’ll also have to find a new GM.)
Baalke has been here before. He won a power struggle against Jim Harbaugh with the 49ers, ousting the coach after four successful years. Harbaugh guided the Chargers back to the playoffs this year in his return to the NFL after spending a decade in college.
