Gene Frenette: GM Baalke also deserves credit for speedy Jaguars resurgence

As the Jaguars battled their way up from an NFL afterthought the last six weeks to now a strong AFC South division favorite, most of the effusive praise went in the direction of head coach Doug Pederson and quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Rightfully so, because the coach-QB combo in this league is paramount to becoming a formidable contender.

But in the Jaguars’ case, easily forgotten — conveniently so for some critics likely wiping the egg off their faces — has been the behind-the-scenes work of a man toiling for 25 years as a scout/personnel man for four different organizations.

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You remember Trent Baalke, right? That’s the guy many people not only wanted to be fired right alongside Urban Meyer, but was the target of classless derision near the end of the 2021 season by a small vocal number of Jaguars fans and even some media.

Or do those folks not recall promoting a clown movement on social media, and also at TIAA Bank Field, to shame the team into dumping the 58-year-old general manager?

Thankfully, it didn’t happen. Owner Shad Khan remained steadfast about Baalke, who took over the GM post on an interim basis from Dave Caldwell in November 2020, needing a proper amount of time to collaborate with Meyer’s successor on forging a rebuild.

Plenty of second-guessing on that decision. But looking back at how this team’s resurgence unfolded, it’s impossible to envision the Jaguars being 8-8 and playing the Tennessee Titans on Saturday night for the AFC South crown without the impactful acquisitions brought in by Baalke.

Let’s put aside the first five picks of the 2021 draft that Baalke choose that are all now in starting roles — Lawrence, Travis Etienne, Tyson Campbell, Walker Little and Andre Cisco. The more remarkable coup was what he did last March in free agency.

Baalke went out on one of the biggest shopping sprees in NFL history, handing out $160 million in guaranteed money to eight players, and nearly all of those investments are paying off in a big way.

Here’s the whole list and total contract worth of each unrestricted free agent: receivers Christian Kirk (4 years, $72 million) and Zay Jones (3 years, $24 million), tight end Evan Engram (1 year, $9 million), guard Brandon Scherff (3 years, $45.5 million), linebacker Foye Oluokun (3 years, $45 million), defensive tackle Foley Fatukasi (3 years, $30 million), cornerback Darious Williams (3 years, $39 million) and defensive lineman Arden Key (1 year, $4 million).

With the possible exception of Fatukasi and Williams, at least until he moved out of covering slot receivers to outside cornerback three weeks ago, all of Baalke’s free-agent targets are so far justifying the Jaguars’ investment.

Spending wiser than Patriots 

Baalke and Pederson went in with a specific acquisition plan, centered primarily on getting Lawrence some new weapons, and they nailed it.

Free agency is often fool’s gold for many teams that partake to the extent the Jaguars did, but they had the money to spend and picked the right players. From both a production and leadership standpoint, Baalke swung for the fences and hit a lot of home runs.

No way are the Jaguars playing for a division title without the right kind of roster turnover. Even if Baalke had only acquired half of those eight targeted free agents (taking away two on offense, two on defense), the Jaguars might already be eliminated from playoff contention.

Baalke, who declines to speak publicly during the season, made it abundantly clear after the massive shopping spree — almost identical to what the New England Patriots did in 2021 — that the Jaguars had to take advantage of abundant salary cap space.

“You got to be smart, too,” Baalke said back in March. “You don’t want to waste resources because it impacts you long-term, right? You can’t just swing blindfolded. You got to do your due diligence, do your homework and make the best decisions and not chase players that aren’t at a level that they can never perform to.”

When NFL teams go on this kind of spending binge, it’s usually a 50-50 proposition. They hit on some, miss on others.

Two years ago, Bill Belichick went totally contrary to his frugal reputation when the Patriots signed eight players to $265 million worth of contracts, plus traded for left tackle Trent Brown, who has been somewhat of a disappointment this year.

One of those free agents, linebacker Kyle Van Noy, is no longer in New England and two others, tight end Jonnu Smith and receiver Nelson Agholor, failed to live up to the contracts they were given.

New England did hit big-time on pass-rusher Matt Judon and tight end Hunter Henry, and Belichick loves nose tackle Davon Godchaux. But receiver Kendrick Bourne and defensive back Jalen Mills haven’t been as impactful as the Patriots hoped.

That’s to be expected because free agency is a roll of the dice. Whether it’s the acquisitions for the 2011 Philadelphia Eagles “Dream Team” or some other big spender, batting .500 on free agents is sort of the norm when teams break out the checkbook.

So far, the Jaguars and Baalke are reaping the rewards from a much higher free agency batting average.

'Sometimes you have to overpay'

Once Pederson was hired on Feb. 3, he and Baalke had about five weeks to get to know each other and formulate the team’s free-agent strategy.

The Super Bowl-winning coach with the Philadelphia Eagles had no issues with the philosophy forged by the Jaguars’ most important tag team.

“If you look around the league at some of the top free agents or players that were re-signed on teams and you look at what we did, yeah, we spent money, but sometimes you have to spend the money to get good players to your roster,” Pederson told the Times-Union.

“Trent and his staff, they do a lot of behind-the-scenes work. They do a lot of film study [on free agents], bring it to us, coaches look at it. We have a lot of great conversations trying to figure out the right pieces to bring in.

“You’re going to miss. The thing about free agency, sometimes you have to overpay. In our case, we felt okay to sort of overpay for some of the talent we were receiving. Now it’s up to us as coaches to make sure we get the most out of that talent.”

In NFL circles, no player got more scrutiny for the Jaguars spending too much money than Kirk, a productive receiver in four seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, but never a true No. 1 at the position.

His current numbers (78 catches, 1,009 yards, 12.9 avg., 7 TDs) are just a tick above last season. So while some might debate if he’s worth an average salary of $18 million per year, his production is a significant upgrade over any receiver the Jaguars had the past two years.

Plus, and this is true for many new arrivals like Scherff, Oluokun, Key and Engram, the leadership component Kirk brings to the locker room of an incredibly unified team cannot be dismissed.

Other than Scherff, a five-time Pro Bowler, none of the Jaguars’ free agents had a wow factor about them. They were regarded as solid pickups, mostly young players on their second contracts, but not really knowing how they’d fit in with new coach Pederson’s system.

Well, 16 games into their time in Jacksonville, none of Baalke’s free agents are close to being a bust and the large majority have played key roles on one of the most embraceable teams in franchise history.

Building formidable future roster  

The prevailing NFL formula for winning is building through the draft, but it has to be supplemented by scoring in free agency.

The Jaguars scored big in 1996 (Leon Searcy, Keenan McCardell, John Jurkovic), 1999 (Kyle Brady, Gary Walker, Carnell Lake) and 2017 (Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye), but the depth of the 2022 class is what stands out.

Kirk has been Trevor’s most frequent and reliable target. Jones is being paid like a solid No. 3 receiver and has had games, particularly dramatic wins over the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys, where he’s performed at a much higher level.

There was no more intriguing UFA arrival than Engram, an up-and-down tight end with the New York Giants. He refused to sign a multi-year contract, so Baalke had to decide whether to abide by the conditions of a one-year deal or move on in a limited market for the position.

Engram bet on himself, and Baalke bet on Engram. He now owns the Jaguars’ franchise tight end record for catches (69) and yards (739), surpassing Kyle Brady. Better yet, he will likely come back for more.

The only way Engram won’t re-sign with the Jaguars is if they low-ball him, which would be front-office malpractice. Baalke isn’t going to do that. He produced beyond expectations with an ascending quarterback, so Engram will get his big payday in the offseason and not likely with anybody outside the 904.

Scherff has been pushing through a groin injury in recent weeks, but he’s the alpha dog on an offensive line that has made greater improvement than any other unit. Plus, with a rookie center in Luke Fortner and right tackle Jawaan Taylor in a prove-it season, Scherff’s presence has made both of them better, especially Taylor.

Oluokun is probably going to wind up leading the NFL in tackles again. While he can be a liability in coverage, his impeccable work ethic and passion to bring out the best in teammates makes him the most indispensable player on defense, along with cornerback Tyson Campbell.

No player brings greater value than Key (4.5 sacks, 12 QB hits), who plays about half the snaps of Josh Allen, 438 to 834, and is performing way above his $4 million salary.

Fatukasi hasn’t been quite the run-stuffer he was with the New York Jets, but he’s also missed a couple games with injuries. Then again, at $10 million a year, he’s not being paid like a difference-making tackle.

Williams got off to a shaky start, but he should continue to improve now that the Jaguars moved him away from covering slot receivers.

Looking at the overall impact of the new arrivals, with six of them on at least three-year contracts, it gives the Jaguars a solid nucleus of players that should allow them to remain AFC South contenders for a good while.

Connecting with Baalke 

A free agency class this large and expensive required Baalke and Pederson to do extensive collaboration. When the 2021 season was going south and there was uncertainty about Baalke’s future, old media reports resurfaced about his fractured relationship with former San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh when Baalke was the GM there.

The Jaguars gave him a fresh start and despite some early negativity, Baalke has resurrected his career. Pederson likes their partnership and doesn’t care about any past criticism of the GM in San Francisco.

If there’s any disagreements about personnel, and Pederson acknowledges there have been some, it’s resolved by watching film and taking personal feelings out of it. They just review tape and focus on whether a player can help improve the roster.

“It’s been a tremendous relationship between he and I,” said Pederson. “We’re so connected at the hip. We do think alike, had a lot of conversation about our current roster this past year with free agency and the draft.

“Listen, whatever’s been out there [about Baalke] is out there. I just know what I see in this building and how he’s building our roster. I tell you what, it’s been good. It’s been real good.”

Finally, the Jaguars are pretty good again, in position to win only their second AFC South title since four-team division realignment began in 2002. They’re out of the NFL abyss and have the look of a franchise ready to be a playoff contender for several years.

This is no longer a clown show. Whether you like Baalke or not, he deserves a lot of credit for making that happen.

Gfrenette@jacksonville.com: (904) 359-4540 

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Gene Frenette: Don't forget GM Trent Baalke when praising Jaguars' surge