Jack Del Rio lasted nearly nine years as Jacksonville's head coach before he was fired Tuesday amid the team's 3-8 start. But the length of his tenure seemed to surprise one of his best former players. "At the end of the day, he's not a head coach," former Jaguars RB Fred Taylor told Yahoo!. "He's a great defensive coach. But he's not a head coach." Taylor, whose 11,271 rushing yards are the most in Jacksonville's history, played for Del Rio from 2003-2008, though he felt his tenure with the team was cut short by the coach. "Why do you think I'm not there?" said Taylor, who retired ceremoniously as a Jaguar in September (after two years with the Patriots) but strongly feels Del Rio played favorites. "There wasn't any falloff in my production. I expressed my willingness to take a paycut. I just wanted to be there and be a part of the community. I wanted to finish my career there. Just because we had this new running back. All we had to do was switch roles. 'Fred, Maurice (Jones-Drew) is going to be the starter.' Fine, no problem. I wasn't a virus in the locker room. I worked my butt off -- everything." Taylor indicated he preferred playing for Tom Coughlin at the beginning of his career in Jacksonville and for Bill Belichick in New England at the end, saying Del Rio sent mixed messages. "With Coughlin, if you came in, if you overstep, you're screwed," said Taylor. "With Jack, you never knew what you were getting. You don't know if you'll get a hardass one day, a buddy-buddy one day. You never really knew. "It was a lot of gray area, which later in my career I didn't buy into." Source: USAToday
I am surprised its Taylor speaking out. I always thought him to be a quiet reserved type of person but maybe I was wrong.
I've said it before...Freddie Taylor should be involved in the rejuvenation process that is the Jacksonville Jaguars. He speaks da troof!
I agree. He's not a head coach. Just like I believe that Norv Turner is a great offensive mind, but not a head coach. I can see Jacksonville as one landing spot for Andy Reid, but he may want the SD gig if Norv is let go.
