NFL’s most desirable coaching destinations: Do Jaguars have a case for No. 1 in 2025?

The 2024 season has been a brutal one for the Jacksonville Jaguars and their fans. 

The season was lost after the first month, as only one team in NFL history — the 1992 San Diego Chargers — has ever made the playoffs after an 0-4 start. Jacksonville was definitely not that team in 2024.

An already talent-capped roster was snakebitten by key injuries on both sides of the ball. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence had only missed one start over his first three pro seasons. He’ll end up missing seven total games this year, leaving Jacksonville once again near the bottom of the NFL standings.

Change is sorely needed, and it’s likely coming immediately after the season as owner Shad Khan is expected to move on from head coach Doug Pederson and potentially GM Trent Baalke as well. That means Jacksonville should be in the mix for the best of the best in the upcoming 2025 head coaching cycle.

It’s worth questioning, however, how desirable Jacksonville will be to those top candidates as a small market team that will be picking near the top of the NFL Draft for the third time in five years.

That won’t be an issue, according to ESPN’s Bill Barnwell. The NFL writer recently ranked the NFL’s projected head coach openings from worst to first, and Jacksonville claimed his top spot as the league’s most desirable situation. Here was Barnwell’s take, in part:

There's talent in key positions. Brian Thomas Jr. looks like a superstar at wide receiver. The Jags appear to have made the wrong choice in selecting Travon Walker over Aidan Hutchinson with the first pick in the 2022 draft, but Walker has settled in as a good pass rusher, combining to make a very solid front two with Josh Hines-Allen. The organization feels good about newly re-signed Walker Little at left tackle. Those are some of the league's most important positions with solid players in place. Florida always appeals to free agents, which makes attracting talent easier.

Jacksonville has a lot to offer its next head coach. It recently signed Lawrence for the long haul, has a top-five draft pick coming this April, and has a young overall team, ranking No. 20 among the NFL’s oldest rosters entering the 2024-25 league year.

The sticking point here has to be Baalke, who has a strong relationship with ownership and could potentially survive Jacksonville’s impending house cleaning. Baalke isn’t known for being easy to work with — CBS Sports described his relationship with Pederson this season as a “marriage of convenience” — and his track record of building through the draft is questionable at best, dating back to his time running the San Francisco 49ers.

NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated recently reported that the 60-year-old Baalke could retire after this season. However the organization ends up spinning it, Baalke’s exit could pave the way for what is now a much-needed new era of Jaguars football.

MORE: NFL picks, score predictions Week 17: Jacksonville Jaguars vs. Tennessee Titans