In this series, I will be looking at the history of coaches, quarterbacks, rushers, and receivers for all 32 franchises. For coaches and quarterbacks, I will be looking at how much their franchise’s career records (regular season only) would change if we removed the games with that person. For rushers and receivers, I will note how many times that player was the team’s leading rusher/receiver over the course of their time with that franchise (regular plus postseason).
Previous Teams:
AFC East: Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots
NFC East: Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, and Redskins
AFC North: Steelers, Browns, Ravens, and Bengals
NFC North: Packers, Vikings, Bears, and Lions
The Jacksonville Jaguars have not been a good franchise overall, but the team has really not been good when Tom Coughlin hasn’t been around. The initial coach of the Jaguars following a stint at Boston College, Coughlin guided Jacksonville to a 68-60 record. Without Coughlin, Jacksonville has won less than 40% of the team’s games! On the other hand, maybe you just want to blame Gus Bradley for things. When he hasn’t been the head coach, Jacksonville has won nearly 50% of its games. Bradley’s -4.2% mark is the second worst in NFL history, which is of course biased by the fact that the Jaguars haven’t been around very long. It’s also only the second-worst in this division (you can probably guess who has the lowest mark).
| Ovr Rk | Coach | G | W | L | T | HC Win % | FrG | FrW | FL | FrT | Fr W% | Win% w/o HC | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Tom Coughlin | 128 | 68 | 60 | 0 | 0.531 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.398 | 4.4% |
| 24 | Jack Del Rio | 139 | 68 | 71 | 0 | 0.489 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.416 | 2.6% |
| 125 | Doug Marrone | 34 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 0.471 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.44 | 0.3% |
| 212 | Mel Tucker | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0.4 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.443 | -0.1% |
| 496 | Mike Mularkey | 16 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 0.125 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.457 | -1.4% |
| 510 | Gus Bradley | 62 | 14 | 48 | 0 | 0.226 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.484 | -4.2% |
At quarterback, Mark Brunell deserves a lot of credit for the performance of the team during its glory years. Similar to life without Coughlin, Jacksonville has won just 40% of its games with all quarterbacks not named Brunell. It’s not exactly apples to apples given the Jaguars short history and the overall struggles of the franchise, but consider that Brunell has raised Jacksonville’s winning percentage by a larger amount (4.2%) than Peyton Manning raised the Colts’ (4.0%) winning percentage! Jacksonville has only had 6 quarterbacks of note in its history. Brunell was very good, David Garrard and Byron Leftwich were both above-average, and then Chad Henne, Blaine Gabbert, and Blake Bortles were bad. Like, really bad:
| Ovr Rk | QB | G | W | L | T | QB Win % | FrG | FrW | FL | FrT | Fr W% | Win% w/o QB | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Mark Brunell | 117 | 63 | 54 | 0 | 0.538 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.401 | 4.2% |
| 34 | David Garrard | 76 | 39 | 37 | 0 | 0.513 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.425 | 1.7% |
| 48 | Byron Leftwich | 44 | 24 | 20 | 0 | 0.545 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.429 | 1.3% |
| 230 | Steve Matthews | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.441 | 0.1% |
| 229 | Rob Johnson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.441 | 0.1% |
| 231 | Jay Fiedler | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.000 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.441 | 0.1% |
| 306 | Cody Kessler | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.500 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.442 | 0.1% |
| 305 | Quinn Gray | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.500 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.442 | 0.1% |
| 389 | Luke McCown | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.500 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.442 | 0% |
| 702 | Jonathan Quinn | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0.333 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.444 | -0.1% |
| 781 | Jamie Martin | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.444 | -0.1% |
| 783 | Trent Edwards | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.444 | -0.1% |
| 782 | Todd Bouman | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.000 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.444 | -0.1% |
| 1104 | Steve Beuerlein | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0.167 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.447 | -0.4% |
| 1212 | Chad Henne | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 | 0.227 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.456 | -1.3% |
| 1216 | Blaine Gabbert | 27 | 5 | 22 | 0 | 0.185 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.462 | -1.9% |
| 1219 | Blake Bortles | 73 | 24 | 49 | 0 | 0.329 | 384 | 170 | 214 | 0 | 0.443 | 0.469 | -2.7% |
The Jaguars have had two outstanding running backs in the team’s history in Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The table below shows the number of times each player has led the Jaguars in rushing yards in a game (regular plus postseason), minimum 10 games. Blake Bortles ranks remarkably high on this list.
| Rusher | First Yr | Last Yr | Leading Rusher | Total Games | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fred Taylor | 1998 | 2008 | 117 | 147 | 80% |
| Maurice Jones-Drew | 2006 | 2013 | 79 | 116 | 68% |
| James Stewart | 1995 | 1999 | 33 | 66 | 50% |
| Blake Bortles | 2014 | 2018 | 28 | 78 | 36% |
| Natrone Means | 1996 | 1997 | 20 | 32 | 63% |
| Leonard Fournette | 2017 | 2018 | 17 | 24 | 71% |
| Stacey Mack | 1999 | 2002 | 15 | 50 | 30% |
| Denard Robinson | 2013 | 2016 | 11 | 55 | 20% |
| Mark Brunell | 1995 | 2003 | 10 | 128 | 8% |
Finally, we have the receivers, and Jacksonville boasts one of the best to ever play the game. Jimmy Smith played with a very good #2 in Keenan McCardell, but he still managed to lead the Jaguars in receiving yards 97 times. And for those of you who have a weird obsession with former Oklahoma State Cowboy Justin Blackmon, he only led the team in receiving yards in 5 of 20 games.
| Receiver | First Yr | Last Yr | Leading Receiver | Total Games | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Smith | 1995 | 2005 | 97 | 180 | 54% |
| Keenan McCardell | 1996 | 2001 | 37 | 103 | 36% |
| Cecil Shorts | 2011 | 2014 | 21 | 40 | 53% |
| Allen Hurns | 2014 | 2017 | 17 | 55 | 31% |
| Matt Jones | 2005 | 2008 | 17 | 57 | 30% |
| Marcedes Lewis | 2006 | 2017 | 16 | 175 | 9% |
| Allen Robinson | 2014 | 2017 | 15 | 43 | 35% |
| Marqise Lee | 2014 | 2017 | 15 | 56 | 27% |
| Maurice Jones-Drew | 2006 | 2013 | 14 | 116 | 12% |
| Mike Thomas | 2009 | 2012 | 13 | 52 | 25% |
| Mike Sims-Walker | 2008 | 2011 | 12 | 40 | 30% |
That’s it for the Jacksonville version of this series. Please leave your thoughts in the comments.