Jaguars fire Marrone following 1- 15 season
The Jacksonville Jaguars f ired coach Doug Marrone on Monday, a little more than 12 hours after they ended the season with a 15th consecutive loss.
It was a move many thought owner Shad Khan should have made at the end of the 2019 season, but Khan gave Marrone another chance to make Jacksonville a playoff contender for the second time in four years.
Marrone came up well short of the owner’s expectations. It was the f irst time Marrone has been f ired in three decades of coaching.
Khan said he will handle the search for his next coach and general manager mostly alone, with some help from Jaguars President Mark Lamping.
Marrone went 24- 43 in four seasons in Jacksonville, falling a few plays shy of the franchise’s f irst Super Bowl in the 2017 season and then miring near the bottom of the league since. The Jaguars dropped 21 of Marrone’s final 24 games.
Khan kept Marrone in place after f iring general manager Dave Caldwell in late November but ultimately decided on a clean sweep.
Also Monday, the NFL confirmed the order for the f irst- round draft picks for the 18 nonplayoff teams, with tiebreakers determined by the ease of a team’s schedule.
Jacksonville ( 1- 15) has the top selection, which it clinched in Week 16. The Jaguars are expected to take Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The New York Jets ( 2- 14) were the only twowin team and will go second in the April 29- May 1 draft scheduled to occur in Cleveland. They fired coach Adam Gase on Sunday.
The draft order through the 18th pick:
1. Jacksonville; 2. New York Jets; 3. Miami ( from Houston); 4. Atlanta; 5. Cincinnati; 6. Philadelphia; 7. Detroit; 8. Carolina; 9. Denver; 10. Dallas; 11. New York Giants; 12. San Francisco; 13. Chargers; 14. Minnesota; 15.
New England; 16. Arizona; 17. Las Vegas; 18. Miami.
Raider is arrested
Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs received minor injuries and was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after a predawn single- vehicle crash Monday near McCarran International Airport, authorities said.
A Las Vegas police report said Jacobs, 22, was taken to a hospital for treatment of a cut on his forehead after an air bag deployed when the 2019 Acura NSX sports car he was driving crashed into a tunnel wall at the Las Vegas airport, prosecutor Eric Bauman said.
Police at the scene determined Jacobs was impaired by alcohol, and blood was drawn at the hospital, Bauman said. Laboratory results can take several weeks.
Jacobs was booked at the Clark County jail on a misdemeanor driving under the inf luence charge and released without bail pending a court appearance March 8, said his attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld. The attorneys noted that no charge was immediately filed by prosecutors.
It was not immediately clear whether Jacobs had just returned to Las Vegas from Denver, where the Raiders beat the Broncos 32- 31 on Sunday in their final regular- season game.
Front- off ice news
John Elway announced a major change in Denver’s football operations, saying he will hire a general manager who will report to him but have f inal say on the draft, free agency and the roster. Elway, who has been GM since 2011, will remain as the Broncos’ president of football operations in 2021, the final year of his contract.
Elsewhere, Carolina has begun its search for a new general manager. The Panthers have requested permission to talk to New England director of player personnel Nick Caserio, Buffalo assistant general manager Joe Schoen and Cleveland vice president of player personnel Kwesi Adofo- Mensah. The team is also expected to interview ex- Giants GM Jerry Reese.
Injury updates
An MRI exam performed on Mike Evans’ left knee showed no structural damage, and the wide receiver’s status for Tampa Bay’s firstround playoff game Saturday night at Washington is day to day. Evans was hurt in Sunday’s win over Atlanta. ... Cleveland will make its f irst playoff appearance since the 2002 season without Olivier Vernon after the defensive end ruptured an Achilles tendon in Sunday’s win over Pittsburgh — a victory that sets up a f irst- round playoff rematch.
Etc.
Buffalo signed wide receiver Kenny Stills to its practice squad, adding depth to its roster in time for the playoffs. Stills is an eighth- year player who was cut by Houston in November. He gives the Bills insurance in the event Cole Beasley remains sidelined by a knee injury.