The lone season Urban Meyer spent in the NFL was filled with so many controversies that it's easy to forget just how dreadful the Jacksonville Jaguars were the year prior. In fact, you could make the case that the 2020 season was even worse but doesn't get much recognition as one of the lowest points in team history because the Jags didn't deal with as much drama.
Maybe if then-head coach Doug Marrone had been caught dancing improperly with a woman who wasn't his wife, the 2020 season would be discussed more often as the worst in franchise history. But don't let the lack of drama make you think otherwise. It was pretty bad.
What led to the Jaguars' 1-15 season in 2020?
The Jaguars didn't suddenly implode. They made their own bed and struggled in 2020 because of their poor decision-making one year prior.
Leaving aside their 5-11 record, the Jags had a pretty rough 2019. They had given Nick Foles a top-market contract despite the fact that nobody wanted him in free agency, and quickly regretted the decision. Later, the front office traded All-Pro cornerback Jalen Ramsey at the midpoint of the season. Then, vice president of football, Tom Coughlin, caught the fury of the NFLPA (the players' union) because his outdated methods had grown thin in the locker room.
Dave Caldwell dismanted the roster that took the Jaguars to the AFC Championship
Jacksonville had hit rock bottom, but as the Murphy Law states, if something can go wrong, it will, and worse things did get for the Jaguars in 2020. Doug Marrone's and general manager Dave Caldwell's seats got increasingly hot after failing to make the playoffs in consecutive years. You would think that their past struggles would make them operate with a sense of urgency, but they took the whole opposite approach.
Instead of reloading in free agency, and doing what they could to bolster the roster, Caldwell chose to build through the draft. That would've been the right approach if Jacksonville had been a contender at that point, but it was a team that had had just one winning season in 10 years. Reloading on free agency would've been the right call, but it seemed like the Jags weren't interested in spending much.
Heck, their biggest signing in free agency was tight end Tyler Eifert, who signed a modest two-year deal worth $15 million. Sure, Eifert had been a Pro Bowler early in his NFL career, but that by point, injuries had robbed him of his playmaking skills.
To make matters worse, Caldwell didn't use the draft to replenish the roster but rather to replace the team's best players. Having moved on from Ramsey one year prior, the Jags proceeded to trade Yannick Ngakoue and Calais Campbell before the 2020 season started. They then released Leonard Fournette because undrafted free agent James Robinson shone in training camp.
However, you try to spin things, Caldwell was wrong, and his idea of hoarding draft picks left the cupboard bare. Simply put, good teams don't actively trade their best players, and instead look for ways to retain them. The Jaguars had a pretty stout core in place, and their general manager dismantled it to the point that it was no longer recognizable.
Doug Marrone could get the Jaguars going
With a subpar roster in place, Marrone's odds of winning took a hit, but he's not free of blame. He fumbled the quarterback situation, going from Gardner Minshew to then-rookie Jake Luton, to Mike Glennon, to Minshew again.
It also didn't help that staples such as Josh Hines-Allen, the late DJ Hayden, and DJ Chark suffered injuries throughout the season. By the end of the year, the head coach was going through the motions, showing an aloof demeanor when talking to the media.
In his defense, losing takes a toll on people, and Marrone surely knew that the writing was on the wall when Caldwell was kicked to the curb.
Now, not everything in 2020 was doom and gloom. The Jags clinched the first overall pick, which they used on Trevor Lawrence. Granted, No. 16 is still trying to show he's a franchise quarterback, but he certainly was a much-needed breath of fresh air when he landed in Jacksonville. Then again, Shad Khan scorched any hopes of the team getting better in 2021 when he hired Urban Meyer, but that's a story for another day.
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