Former Jacksonville Jaguars general manager Dave Caldwell’s five-month sabbatical from the NFL has come to an end. The Philadelphia Eagles have hired Caldwell, who was in charge of personnel decisions for the Jaguars from 2013-20, as a personnel executive.
Philadelphia finds itself in a bit of a rebuild after a 4-11-1 season in 2020. It traded former Pro Bowl quarterback Carson Wentz, who the team took with the second pick in 2016, to Indianapolis, and now it seems the Eagles will be rolling with Jalen Hurts, who saw a good bit of action last season but was hit-or-miss.
It’s a situation Caldwell is familiar with. When he was hired by the Jaguars, they were coming off a 2-14 finish (the worst in franchise history until 2020). His tenure had some high highs, with the team making it to the AFC Championship in 2017 for the first time since 1999. But the lows were quite low.
The Jags sputtered to a 37-91 record during his tenure, and though he survived the organizational purge after the 2019 season that saw the team fire Executive VP of Football Operations Tom Coughlin, he couldn’t survive a 1-15 season in 2020. He was dismissed on Nov. 29, followed by head coach Doug Marrone at the end of the season.
In spite of his struggles, especially in finding a franchise quarterback with third-overall pick Blake Bortles and Nick Foles, the biggest free-agent signing in franchise history, not working out, Caldwell is too highly thought of to not have a job at this point. He’ll hope his tenure in Philadelphia goes better than his time in Jacksonville.