New owner Shahid Khan aims high of Jacksonville Jaguars – NFL Feature
The Jacksonville Jaguars and Indianapolis Colts are two teams on the National Football League (NFL) who witnessed hiring firing at a massive scale since ending of the regular season.
The only difference between the two is that former has also been deprived of their previous owner.
The jaguars, one of the 32 franchises on the league, were sold out by their former owner, Wayne Weaver.
The deal amounting to $770 million was finalised on November 29, 2011. The day is also significant in the team history that they also lost their head coach, Del Rio on the same date.
The team is acquired by the Illinois-based and Pakistan-born American businessman, Shahid Khan. Shahid Khan, locally popular as Shad Khan, is famous for his interest in the American football.
He had made an unsuccessful bid for St. Louis Rams a year earlier. With a new owner and new coach, the Jacksonville Jaguars face a new football future ahead.
Shahid Khan since his taking over the team formally on January 04, 2012, the day his deal was declared successful and closed, has backed his team to be a consistent winner on the field. He also expressed his ambitions of making the side a role model off
the field.
With new season on mind the owner has already out with a number of changes and additions to the strength of his management team and players line-up.
The owner has mandated the general manager, Gene Smith, whose contract was extended by the former owner before his departure, to bring about positive changes in the team to fulfil his objectives.
The first signing of the team was their fulltime coach, Mike Mularkey, who took over the charge from their interim coach, Mel Tucker, who had seen the Jags through 2011 NFL regular season with two wins and three losses.
Since his joining, Mularkey, has introduced a number of changes in his coaching department. Apparently, the team’s priority is offense. There new coach from the Atlanta Falcons has offensive coaching experience.
First act of the new coach after his joining was the meeting he held with the rookie quarterback of the team, Blaine Gabbert.
The rookie has failed most of his starts in the past regular season. He proved to be the main source of criticism on their former coach. Del Rio had remained persistent with Gabbert in spite of media lashing on his repeated failures.
Rio believed that the QB needed to be given enough of opportunities to show off his skills and perform better on the field.
A similar approach is expected by their new coach, who at the very first meeting has backed Gabbert. He said he had told the quarterback that he already had a year of experience on his back and he should come out on the field with a better performance next
season.
With apparent offensive strategy to be in place for them in the next season, the new coach looks to groom the offensive department’s talent. It is not clear if the team will be looking to sign a new draft pick, who possibly could be a quarterback, next draft
season when it begins in April this year (2012).
The Jaguars ended the 2011 NFL season with five wins and 11 losses. It stood out to be one of the worst seasons of the team, an obvious disappointment to their former owner.
Wayne Weaver had reportedly given Rio a target of reaching the playoff season. After failing to achieve that the team had to see the sweeping changes.
It will be seen if the team is able to make a turnaround on the field next season.
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