Hays Carlyon's Jaguars Blog

Shad Khan needs to raid the Lions for new vision of Jaguars football

todayOctober 14, 2024

Background

By Hays Carlyon

Jaguars owner Shad Khan at some point in the next three months will have to fire general manager Trent Baalke and coach Doug Pederson if he wants to maintain any competitive football credibility.

The Jaguars are 1-5. They are four games back of AFC South leader Houston. The Jaguars still play Green Bay, at Philadelphia, Minnesota, at Detroit and Houston. Those five teams are a combined 21-6.

There is no path back into contention after another dismal loss on Sunday, a 35-16 thrashing by the upstart Chicago Bears at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

I’m not going to lament the gory details of the loss. We all watched it.

Frankly, what good would it do? The season is over from a contention standpoint. Who cares if corrections are made? It’s too late.

What I want to do is set a course for the future.

Khan needs to immediately begin developing his plan.

Operation: Raid the Lions.

The Jaguars are a poor man’s version of the Lions: a franchise desperately trying to find consistent success after decades of mostly poor play.

The Ford Family eventually found success. The Lions are 4-1. Through the draft and some savvy trading, Detroit has become arguably the strongest team in the NFC.

The Lions lead the NFL in scoring offense at 30.2 points per game. They are second in scoring defense at 18.2 points per game.

Khan doesn’t like doing searches, so I’m going to make this easy on him.

Shad, you can’t have Lions general manager Brad Holmes or coach Dan Campbell.

But you can hire two of their top lieutenants.

Ray Agnew has served as Detroit’s assistant general manager since 2021. He was the Los Angeles Rams Director of Player Personnel from 2017-20.

Agnew was also a heck of a player. The 56-year-old Agnew was drafted 10th overall out of North Carolina State in the 1990 draft and played 11 years in the NFL.

Agnew has been involved in the Lions building one of the most physical and skilled nucleuses of young talent in the NFL. That group includes pass-rush phenom Aidan Hutchinson, mauling right tackle Penei Sewell, electric wide receiver Amon Ra St. Brown, elusive running back Jahmyr Gibbs and sensational tight end Sam LaPorta. Each player was selected in the 2021 draft or later.

Detroit also deserves credit for landing veteran quarterback Jared Goff in a 2021 trade with the Rams in the blockbuster that sent Lions legend Matthew Stafford to Los Angeles.

Goff was the castoff in the deal. All he has done is throw 86 touchdowns to 31 interceptions in now his fourth season with the Lions.

Which gets us to Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

Shad, this is your next coach. Can he lead men? We don’t know.

But we do know that he can get them open. We know he can drive opposing defenses crazy with his creativity.

We know he’s got the killer instinct a play caller needs to be elite. We know he took a quarterback Rams whiz Sean McVay was done with and has salvaged him.

The 38-year-old Johnson is in his third season as offensive coordinator with the Lions. He turned down opportunities for head-coaching positions last offseason. Now, will be his time.

Johnson has been with Detroit for six seasons and was an assistant with the Miami Dolphins for seven years.

He’s ready.

Khan needs to hire a young offensive whiz that can be with the Jaguars for 15 years. He needs to hire someone that can elevate quarterback Trevor Lawrence and ideally be his final coach with the Jaguars.

The mission is simple, Shad.

Hire Agnew and let him go get Johnson.

Operation: Raid the Lions should be put into full effect.

Immediately.

(You can email Hays at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter/X @HaysCarlyon)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written by: Hays Carlyon


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todayOctober 14, 2024