Report: Jaguars officially hire former 49ers executive Ethan Waugh as their assistant GM

The Jags front office made a big addition today by hiring Ethan Waugh. Waugh was a part of the 49ers’ front office during and after Trent Baalke’s time there.

The Jacksonville Jaguars said they would be strengthening their front office in the coming months and took a step towards that on Monday. According to Sports Illustrated reporter Albert Breer, the team has officially hired former San Francisco 49ers executive Ethan Waugh to be their assistant general manager.

The hiring of Waugh was a move that was expected to happen at some point after the draft after ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported that the Jags had an offer on the table for Waugh and that he was expected to take it. As mentioned, Waugh is a familiar face to Jags general manager Trent Baalke as both worked together for the 49ers for over 10 years.

Waugh’s most recent title was as the 49ers’ vice president of player personnel, which was an occupation he held with them dating back to last June. Before that, he was the 49ers’ director of college scouting and football systems for three years. While holding that title, he oversaw the college scouting staff and the daily operations of the department, according to the San Francisco 49ers’ official site.

Before taking the role as the director of college scouting and football systems, Waugh was the 49ers’ senior player personnel coordinator from 2015-17 and their senior personnel assistant from 2012-14. His four seasons before that were as the 49ers midwest regional scout from 2008-11.

Waugh’s initial job with the team before the aforementioned scouting titles was as a personnel assistant.

Baalke and Waugh saw the 49ers have great success from 2011-13. After that, though, Baalke’s tenure became a disaster, and he was fired after the 2016 season. Waugh stuck around, though, and worked his way up the ranks of the front office under John Lynch. That said he’s seen and played a role in the 49ers’ recent resurgence, which has been led by notable draft pickups like Fred Warner, Deebo Samuel, and George Kittle.