The Jaguars have officially announced the hiring of David Caldwell as their GM.
“We got our man,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said in the team's news release. “I have a lot of faith in David Caldwell and I can assure our fans that the best days for the Jacksonville Jaguars are in front of us.”
Said Caldwell in the release: “I am thrilled to accept the offer to become the next general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars. There are no bad GM opportunities in the NFL, but to work on behalf of a dynamic owner in a rabid football city like Jacksonville is truly special. This is where I wanted to be and I could not be happier. I can't wait to get to Jacksonville and get started.”
The Jaguars will introduce Caldwell on Thursday afternoon.
Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea points out that Caldwell has a very strong tie to 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman. They were roommates and teammates at John Carroll University in Ohio. (Hat tip to PFT.)
Perhaps Roman is an excellent candidate and would be an excellent head coach.
But I tend to be a little wary of guys who work on the same side of the ball as a particularly good head coach. Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick have done good work for the 49ers. But are they, and Roman, products of 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh?
Roman has coached for Carolina, Houston and Baltimore. He worked with Harbaugh for two years at Stanford before jumping to the 49ers with him in 2011. He does call the plays for San Francisco, and some of those look awfully good.
Caldwell could part ways with Mike Mularkey in Jacksonville and hire a new coach. I tend to think that's the best course of action because I don't like a scenario where Caldwell is making a change in another year and time was wasted.
Perhaps he hires his friend. He'll just have to be certain his friend is ready.
Seven coaching jobs opened since the season ended. Some of the of the people hiring the replacements have interviewed a lot of candidates.
None of them have talked with Roman, though that's hardly a prerequisite for being a good coach.