There is no doubt that everybody in the Jacksonville Jaguars organization was disappointed in the way the season ended with a loss to the Tennessee Titans that crushed their playoff hopes. They now head into next season with high expectations as Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke spoke to the media at the NFL Scouting Combine to talk about the team's plan for the off-season.
Baalke would say that there is a “checklist” of goals the team wants to accomplish before the season whether that be through free agency, the upcoming NFL Draft, or other avenues. However, he would express that he is confident in the Jaguars the way they are at the very moment according to NFL.com.
“You've got a checklist of all the things you hope to accomplish this offseason and you just work diligently,” Baalke said. “I think we have a pretty good football team. We have some really good football players who are bought into the culture we're establishing.”
While adding pieces to Jacksonville are integral to the team's off-season plans, it is also to retain a lot of the players that have brought success, like quarterback Trevor Lawrence. However, Baalke would admit that aspect “isn't always feasible or reasonable.”
“We're always looking to add to that. We'd like to sign all our own back. That isn't always feasible or reasonable,” Baalke said. “You take a look at where we're at, what moves we need to make and you put a plan together. You put a plan together with the coaching heavily involved in what needs to take place over the next weeks and months to build this team into a championship-caliber team.”
Baalke acknowledges Jaguars disappointing season
The motivations are there for the Jaguars as Baalke said that they are only “in it to win it.” This will be Baalke's fourth off-season as the general manage where the end-goal is to win a Super Bowl, which was far from what happened last season, which the 60-year old acknowledges.
“Anytime you finish the way we finished, there's disappointment,” Baalke said. “We were 8-3 at one point, we finished 9-8. We won one more game down the stretch. It was a disappointment. I don't think anybody you talk to in our organization would argue differently. We have a clear understanding of what we need to do and from an organizational standpoint.”
People could blame one aspect about the Jaguars disappointment to one specific thing, but Baalke believes it was a bevy of reasons that even “stretched into different areas of the organization.” The pathway to success first is taking accountability as Baalke said that “we all have to own it and no one better to own it than me.”
“It's never one thing,” Baalke said. “You can't just point to one thing and say, ‘That's why we finished the way we finished.' There are multiple things, tentacles that stretched into different areas of the organization. We all have to own it and no one better to own it than me. When I look at this thing, extremely disappointed where we were at and where we finished, but motivated to fix it.”
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