Should Gene Smith be the Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager?

[British Shoe Company]

What would you do?

[Elwood]

I think I'd let the man who pays his salary make that call.

[British Shoe Company]

I think I'd let the man who pays his salary make that call.

So you blindly agree with who pays his salary, however my question was what would you do.  Your answer indicates your a follower.  If Mr. Khan would have let him go, would you have voted differently? Maybe you should have voted "I do not know". Let's pretend you have to make the call.  What would you do?

[Elwood]

Not blind at all. I just think it smells of arrogance to assume that a fan knows what is best for a franchise. Would it be any different than me walking in to where you work and being able to decide that you should lose your job, even though I don't know the first thing about what you do? Being a fan is passionate and can be emotional. But to question whether someone "deserves" to have their job? I think not.

[KenFSU]

Gene Smith should have been shown the door at the same time Jack Del Rio was let go, if for no other reason than to make a clean break from the past and start moving toward a more successful future. It's nothing personal against Smith, but his track record, with the draft in particular, has been amongst the worst of all NFL GM's.

It's not arrogance, Elwood, it's -- as you said -- passion. In an age of unprecedented access and information, I think every professional sports franchise probably has at least a few hundred hardcore, mega-informed fans who could probably competently draft for their franchise. In fact, I think it's arrogant to imply that Jags fan "don't know the first thing about what Gene Smith does."

Many people who are saying that Smith needs to go are investing hundreds, if not thousands of dollars in the Jags each year. When you're spending that kind of money, you're more than entitled to voice your displeasure with the direction of the franchise, whether it be front office or on the field.

[I-10east]

I say keep him, atleast until the rest of his contract. Remember, this is the guy who revamped the D. Many Gator fans will continue to hold 'Not drafting the Messiah' against Gene no matter what; He could have drafted a couple of Pro Bowl type players, and not draft Tebow, and the legions of the sheep will still have the negative vibe towards Gene. SMH.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Well, at the time of this posting the majority says..... Keep Him.  3/2 (ha)

Are you seriously kidding me?  The guy has been in charge for going on 4 years and you're ready to cut his head off.  I will admit his last few drafts have not been glamourous, but it's not like they've been bad.  You have to take a few steps back and appreciate the entire workings of the beast.

He started as a scout.  He was promoted through the ranks as a lead scout.  He was ultimately given the job as a GM after the firing of Shack Harris.  He has started from scratch and made his best attempt at rebuilding the entire roster from ground zero.  His head coach, while being with him for years, was fired as he was offered an extension which he origionally turned down, was re-approved and accepted under new ownership.  He has given free reign under the new management for both FA and the draft.....  Yet some think he should be fired.

Gene Smith has taken the calling of rebuilding the entire franchise.  And in year 4 most of his picks have been labeled with names such as, "un-sexy", "not flashy", "safe", "conservative", etc... But if you think about it, you can't take a chance with a foundation.  You have to make sure it's rock solid.  The thing you haven't heard about Gene's picks, "bust", "sketchy", "inconsistent","out-of-the-NFL", etc....  Meaning that while safe picks, they've been productive starters from day one for the most part.  As far as making the 'sexy' pick of the draft, maybe later, but not during the rebuilding process.

His FA pickups have been solid.  Again, they haven't been flashy or the prestigeous picks, but they've been solid additions to the team.  Poz, for all the good things he did on the field last year, wasn't a top flight pick during FA.  He was an OK Linebacker with poor coverage skills. Ooops.  We graded him over the rest and apparently made the right pick, because under the watchful eye of his DC, he seemed to always be in the right place at the right time and while not able to catch the ball, per se, he always seemed to be in position to break up the passing play in his direction.  Round Pegs / Round Holes.  Poz is the perfect example.  Landry, Sessions (when not hurt), Mincey, Roth, etc... led our team to a overall ranking of 6.  Better than all of 5 other teams in the NFL.  He's turning an eye to the O, for the right price.

Who here would have really been happy with a $21M payout to Garcon?  Not me.  What about $85M to Jackson, who's one DUI away from 1YR suspension? Again, not me.  The pickup of Robinson at a reasonable price, after taking into account his old head coach and his offseason workour coach, Sullivan, seems like an awesome addition.  Plus, most teams don't get the credit they deserve for signing their own, which we did en masse.  All at solid contracts that pay for performance without giving away the farm for a name.  We are setting the template for the rest of the league to folllow with regards to FA.

The biggest unknown for next year is the guy throwing the ball.  We moved up to draft him at 10 for a reason, and I can't hold him completely accountable for what happened last year.  It was the perfect storm of reasons to want to quit.  He came in named a project, then they let go of Garrard all of a sudden.  He was still only a  backup, until McCown went out in G2.   Now, without a preseason, a training camp or 3 more years of college, he's named the starter of an NFL team.  He was also handcuffed with what he was allowed to do, he was still getting used to taking snaps from under center and he was also working with a busted line that was full of issues on the right hand side.   Let's add a cherry to his issues - he didn't have a solid recieving corp to throw the ball to.  It seemed like every well placed throw in a difficult situation ended up in a drop by the WR/TE - heartbreaking to say the least.

People will always compare him to the other rookies in that draft - Newton, Ponder, Dalton & Tebow.  For starters - Tebow wasn't a rookie - he doesn't count.  Newton - how many games did he win?  Yeah, I thought so.  Dalton, well he was drafted AFTER their #1 WR, and how many playoff games did he start in?  That's what I thought.  Even thought he was in a worse situation than his peers, and didn't have the hype of some of them, he was still projected as a top 10 pick.  And he did just as well, statistically speaking, as the rest of them.  An offseason with the proper coaching and the team adding the pieces around him should make the difference that we're all looking for.

Bust on Gene all you want, I'll still follow.  I think overall and I can view the league critically while maintaining a jaded eye.  There's no blind faith.  The history speaks unto itself, so there's reason to be positive.

[Wacca Pilatka]

Very nicely written NRW, and I wholeheartedly agree.

This is an upgrade on the Panda Express and Long John Silver's threads.

[I-10east]

5-3 baby, keep it going the 'right' way! 

[Brian Siebenschuh]

Wouldn't it make the most sense to get Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill to manage the draft pick process?

[I-10east]

Dalton, well he was drafted AFTER their #1 WR, and how many playoff games did he start in?

One, in a forgettable 31-10 loss at Houston. The Bengals made the playoffs at 9-7, just pointing out the facts. I agree with everything that you said though.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Wouldn't it make the most sense to get Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill to manage the draft pick process?

Moneyball reference.  Nice. 

I may not have a PhD in Mathamtics from an Ivy League school, but I've tried using all sorts of measurables in football to apply a similar system, but football is truly a team sport, and each different play requires all 11 on the field to be on the same page. 

For baseball's hitting, pitching & fielding stats, it's a one-one game.  The batter v/s pitcher, the pitcher v/s batter, the fielder v/s batter.  And also, the fact that baseball is played over 162 regular season games v/s 16, it allowed more time for tendencies to develop.  The depth that baseball sabermetrics go is ungodly. 

[Gators312]

Gene Smith will never build a team better than 9-7. 

He has wasted picks already trying to be the smartest guy in the room.  Taking several small school guys who haven't panned out, thinking he knows more than 31 other organizations.  He has taken the most small school guys of any GM in the NFL during his tenure.   Where has that gotten us?

I don't want to "hate" on the Jaguars as they are our home team, I just don't think Gene Smith can take us where we want to go.

I'm glad he hasn't done a TERRIBLE job so far, but if that's all we can get excited about means we have a long way to go. 

Please name me someone that the Jaguars drafted that was a "home run" under Gene?  How about Free Agents?

 

[British Shoe Company]

Gene Smith will never build a team better than 9-7. 

He has wasted picks already trying to be the smartest guy in the room.  Taking several small school guys who haven't panned out, thinking he knows more than 31 other organizations.  He has taken the most small school guys of any GM in the NFL during his tenure.   Where has that gotten us?

I don't want to "hate" on the Jaguars as they are our home team, I just don't think Gene Smith can take us where we want to go.

I'm glad he hasn't done a TERRIBLE job so far, but if that's all we can get excited about means we have a long way to go. 

Please name me someone that the Jaguars drafted that was a "home run" under Gene?  How about Free Agents?

 

9-7 is being nice. 

[I-10east]

Shocker! Someone with the word 'Gators' in their screenname doesn't like Gene Smith; I didn't see that one coming!