Jaguars Hire James Gladstone as New General Manager

The Jacksonville Jaguars have a new general manager.

The Jaguars officially named James Gladstone as their new general manager on Friday.

“James emerged as my choice, and our choice, following a painstaking but energizing interview process that left nothing to doubt.  Every candidate delivered, and I am grateful to them all for their preparation and time spent with us this week in Jacksonville,” Jaguars owner Shad Khan said. “In the end, we found James to be a class ahead and exceptional in every regard – vision, new ideas, communication, chemistry and a keen understanding of the league and our team, to name a few of many virtues he will bring immediately to the Jaguars.  It’s going to be fun watching James work with our football leadership team of Liam Coen, Tony Boselli and Tony Khan, but most of all it will be rewarding.  I am confident of that.”

Overall, the Jaguars had five finalists for the general manager position in interim general manager Ethan Waugh, Green Bay Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan, San Francisco 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams, Los Angeles Rams director of scouting strategy James Gladstone, and Chicago Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham.

Overall, the Jaguars interviewed 11 candidates for the job. 10 of the candidates were external candidates, with four of those then making it to the final round of interviews.

The Jaguars have had a vacancy at general manager since Jan. 22 when the team and former general manager Trent Baalke parted ways. Baalke had been the Jaguars general manager since the 2021 season after he was the interim general manager at the end of the 2020 season.

The Jaguars repeated the pattern of giving their interim general manager a chance at the full-time job in this year's cycle with Waugh. This time around, though, there were several other factors at play.

Amongst the key factors was the hiring of head coach Liam Coen just days after Baalke was fired and Waugh was named interim general manager. Coen is the rare coach who will have input and say on the hiring of the team's general manager, with most franchises instead letting the general manager pick the head coach or having ownership conduct processes to hire each at the same time.

There was also the hiring of Pro Football Hall of Famer Tony Boselli as Executive Vice President of Football Operations. Boselli and Coen are both set to report to Jaguars owner Shad Khan, along with the new general manager hire.

Now, the Jaguars are set to move forward with a trio at the top of their football operations that Khan hopes will finally turn the Jaguars around. In Khan's 13 seasons as owner, the Jaguars have just three winning seasons and two playoff berths.

The next big event for the Jaguars: next week's 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, the first major test for the team's newest leadership regime.

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