The Jaguars are off and running with a new head coach, Doug Marrone, and a restructured front office which includes former Giants and Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin.
Many questions remain, but one in particular comes to mind now that they've adopted a slightly different power structure: Will there be too many cooks in the kitchen?
Former NFL general manager and NFL Network analyst Charley Casserly said that Coughlin's biggest challenge will be the inclination to over-manage situations. As head coach of the Giants, he was known for his military style and was extremely protective of the culture he created inside the building.
"Everyone has to understand their roles and the roles have to be clearly defined," Casserly said on Good Morning Football Tuesday.
"It can work, it worked in Miami when Bill Parcells was the football czar there. Coughlin is a tremendous resource. He's a great coach and a great mind. What he's going to have to do is fight the itch to be a micromanager, which can be a problem. Vince Lombardi years ago couldn't do it when he was in that role as a Packer. But, he's got a good football coach. He's got a good general manager. And there's the common ground of Parcells between Marrone and Coughlin, so they've got some history they can relate to.
"It can work if everyone understands their roles."
I think Marrone is the right coach for Coughlin in that he will not allow himself to be micromanaged. When Coughlin stepped down as head coach of the Giants in 2015, he was mulling a similar offer from team owner John Mara. In that scenario, where Coughlin's players would still see him every day and inevitably compare him to their new, 38-year-old head coach Ben McAdoo, it was certainly a recipe for disaster.
Here, Marrone and Coughlin can form something more organic. Coughlin and general manager Dave Caldwell are also starting from scratch.
Every situation has the potential to blow up, but Coughlin has weathered some difficult personal situations in the past without allowing the entire operation to collapse. Between coaching changes and personnel decisions in New York that he may not have been fond of, the Giants were always looking forward -- something Jacksonville needs to do after winning just 14 games in four seasons.
