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          NFL Nation

          Gus Bradley earns respect around the NFL

          • Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff WriterAug 26, 2014, 01:50 PM ET
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              Michael DiRocco is an NFL reporter at ESPN. DiRocco covers the Jacksonville Jaguars. He previously covered the University of Florida for over a decade for ESPN.com and Florida Times-Union. DiRocco graduated from Jacksonville University and is a multiple APSE award winner. You can follow DiRocco on Twitter at @ESPNdirocco.
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          JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Gus Bradley is only in his second season as the Jaguars’ head coach, but he already has earned a lot of respect among NFL insiders and executives.

          In putting together a big piece on NFL head coaches, ESPN's Mike Sando asked a panel of 30 insiders (eight GMs, four former GMs, six coordinators, four position coaches, four executives, and four personnel director types) to rate the 32 NFL coaches on a 1-5 scale (one is best, five is worst). Bradley came in 19th in the ranking, ahead of established coaches such as Carolina’s Ron Rivera (23rd) and Dallas’ Jason Garrett (30th).

          A more important thing to consider is that Sando broke the coaches down into tiers and Bradley was squarely in the second tier. That’s impressive considering Bradley has been an NFL head coach for only one year and has a 4-12 record.

          Sando’s piece is an interesting read, and you can check it out here. Reminder, it’s Insider content.