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He’s back folks. Trent Baalke, the former general manager for the San Francisco 49ers during much of the Harbaugh-era glory, from 2011-16, is (almost) back with a permanent general manager job. Baalke served as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ interim GM last season after the team fired David Caldwell.
Now, the Jaguars are expected to give him the keys to the franchise at a crucial point. It’s Baalke and Urban Meyer in Jacksonville, set to almost assuredly pick Trevor Lawrence and shape that team’s trajectory for at least the next half decade. Just as we all expected.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the deal is not yet official, but it will be shortly.
The #Jaguars are expected to hire Trent Baalke as their GM, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. The top internal candidate, he stays to work with new coach Urban Meyer. The deal isn’t done and official, but it is slated to be soon.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 20, 2021
Baalke left behind him a complicated legacy in which many of his draft choices were initial failures turned successes like Jimmie Ward, Jaquiski Tartt and Arik Armstead, or just flat-out failures. His proclivity for drafting players with ACL issues is the stuff of legend.