Allen Hurns

Jaguars Opening Ranked Second Best By NFL Execs

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:45 p.m. ET

Fansided, Billy Long/FanSided via Black and Teal

With a group of head coaching jobs available around the league, the Jacksonville Jaguars are considered to be a highly desirable job.

The Jaguars are currently in the middle of an extensive head coaching search. The team finds itself at the moment competing with five other teams who have dismissed their lead guy. The Jaguars got a head start on all but one of those teams, and are needing to make a big splash hire.

Landing a highly desired candidate used to seem like an uphill battle for Jacksonville, but those days seem to be over.

As you can see from Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole, who polled seven NFL execs, the Jaguars are currently viewed as having the second-best opening, only behind defending Super Bowl Champion Denver.

This really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone if you take a look at what the team has to offer to the next guy brought in to lead.

Jacksonville has a cast of young, budding stars. Whether it’s Jalen Ramsey, who completed a Defensive Rookie of the Year caliber first season, and Telvin Smith on the defense, or receivers Allen Hurns, Allen Robinson, and Marqise Lee on the offense, the team has a solid core to build around.

Blake Bortles had an extremely disappointing 2016 campaign, but could be salvaged and perhaps turned back into a guy with franchise quarterback potential if the right guy is hired. Resurrecting Bortles could be viewed as a compelling and worthwhile challenge.

The Jaguars also play in the weak and extremely winnable AFC South. The other current teams with openings each have to battle with consistent and well constructed teams within their respective divisions.

Jacksonville plays in a division that has been won by Houston at 9-7 the last two years, using a stable of quarterbacks. The climb to the top of the AFC South is the simplest of the eight divisions.

Worth noting as well when considering the Jaguars opening is the patience of Owner Shad Khan.

Khan was more loyal for his own good when it came to Gus Bradley. Bradley was retained far longer than he should have been, but it showed that Khan is willing to give the head coach every ounce of opportunity to succeed with the team.

While the team currently continues to struggle to put a successful product on the field, Jacksonville has become an attraction head coach destination, and the organization should have no problem landing a good one.