Meet the Jaguars' new offensive coordinator: Jay Gruden
The Jacksonville Jaguars have a new offensive coordinator, and it’s a familiar name: Jay Gruden.
The team announced on Wednesday that it has hired Gruden, most recently the head coach in Washington, to run the offense. Gruden is the Jaguars’ third coordinator on that side of the ball in three years.
‘We felt Jay was the best fit for us’
In a story on the team website, head coach Doug Marrone said Gruden’s experience played a big role in the decision to bring him to Jacksonville.
“We went through a process and brought in people who have a ton of experience,” Marrone said. “All of the candidates are proven that they have done it at this level and done it at a high level.
“We were trying to find someone who's best for this staff, who's best for what you want to run, then you're looking for what person's best for your players – who's going to relate to the players, who's going to be able to communicate with them.
“At the end of the day, we just felt that Jay was the best fit for us.”
Gruden was fired by Washington five games into this past regular season; he was hired there in 2014, and Washington won the NFC East title in 2015.
Gruden’s work with quarterbacks cited
Gruden’s last stint as a coordinator was with the Cincinnati Bengals from 2011-13.
The Jaguars noted that during those three seasons the Bengals went from the 20th-ranked offense in total yardage to 10th.
“Jay's been very multiple,” Marrone said. “He's done a good job formationally in a lot of different areas. He's done a very good job with quarterbacks when he's been an offensive coordinator.
“A lot of it’s going to depend obviously on players. You're not going to try to go in there and try to force a system on offense if you don't have all the pieces. We wanted to make sure it's a big enough menu that we're going to be able to use all of our players to the best of their ability.”
With Gruden in place, the Jaguars will now turn their attention to their open quarterbacks coach position, a vacancy that was created when Scott Milanovich left to become head coach of the CFL’s Edmonton Eskimos.
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