For the next two weeks, Darrell Bevell will be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. After that, though, it is anyone's guess who will lead the Jaguars into the future -- a future Bevell wants to be a part of.
“I have not had any conversations about that up to this point," Bevell said on Wednesday when asked about the potential of his interim title being dropped.
"Right now, we’re mired in this COVID stuff so [we’re] just trying to be able to get a team out there. But as far as being interested, I would be, yes.”
Bevell, who has been the Jaguars' interim head coach since Urban Meyer was fired on Dec. 16, will finish out the year attempting to keep the 2-13 Jaguars afloat amid eventual change and a string of players placed on the COVID-19 list that grew to 25 on Wednesday.
But even while Bevell navigates the waters of a murky Week 17 roster and the final 10 days of a season gone very, very wrong in Jacksonville, the former Seahawks and Lions offensive coordinator sees the Jaguars as a job he would like to keep going into 2022.
Bevell was first brought to Jacksonville by Meyer after the former Jaguars head coach began to assemble his first NFL staff. Coordinator for the Lions the previous two years and even Detroit's own interim head coach for a period of time in 2020, Bevell spent the first 13 weeks of this season as the Jaguars' offensive coordinator before stepping into the interim head coach role in Week 15 and then giving up play-calling duties in Week 16.
Considering there are only 32 head coaching roles in the entire NFL and the Jaguars are one of the few teams who can boast a young and talented quarterback who is waiting to be developed, it is far from surprising to see Bevell express interest in the full-time role.
"The timing of this thing, when these things happen, they’re obviously neverideal. They’re very tough and difficult situations to be put into in either way. But it’s one that I’m super excited about," Bevell said on his first day as Jaguars interim head coach following Meyer's firing.
Bevell, to this point, hasn't been one of the names connected to the Jaguars' job. Pederson, Caldwell, Leftwich, Moore, Nathaniel Hackett, Matt Eberflus, Todd Bowles, and Dan Quinn.
Whether Bevell gets serious consideration as the Jaguars' next head coach remains to be seen. The Jaguars could keep general manager Trent Baalke in place, who has experience with Bevell and has worked closely with him over the last several weeks, or they could opt for a clean slate while still giving Bevell an interview with owner Shad Khan.
"But there’s just so much more that comes across your desk that really you don’t even think about as the coordinator or position coach. You’re just so dialed in on what you’re doing, there’s all these other things that are going on in the building, all these other people and all of a sudden it becomes—it’s all on your desk," Bevell said about being a head coach on Dec. 16.
"So, those are the things that I learned, so I think it’s prepared for this opportunity again today. We have great people in the organization and the wheels are already spinning behind the scenes, as they always have and I know that they’ll continue to.”
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