The Jaguars soon will be on the hunt for a new head coach for a second consecutive offseason.
Jacksonville on Thursday officially fired Urban Meyer, who signed on for his first NFL job back in January. Franchise owner Shad Khan and Co. now find themselves in a high-pressure situation, as the organization absolutely needs to make the right call on its next head coach.
It’s probably too early to put together a shortlist of potential candidates to replace Meyer, but Bart Scott on Thursday’s “Get Up” suggested an option that could both yield success and immediately resonate with the fanbase.
“The most romantic story there is out there is Byron Leftwich,” Scott said on ESPN. “Byron Leftwich is a great offensive mind, a former quarterback. But also, understands how things go in Jacksonville, being a former Jacksonville Jaguar himself, understanding the proud tradition of being an expansion team. Somebody with new blood, new perspective. Somebody that’s leading one of the best offenses in the game. You have to be somebody that has a tremendous football acumen to gain the respect of somebody like Tom Brady. You have to take in consideration a Byron Leftwich, but the question will be what kind of staff can they put together and who can they get to follow them?”
Leftwich never has been a head coach at any level, but his track record as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator speaks for itself. Lawrence also might mesh best with someone who played the quarterback position at the highest level and still is on the younger side.
The Jaguars need to do their due diligence and then some before bringing on a new coach, but they probably should heed Scott’s advice and at least consider Leftwich.
