7 NFL Head Coaches on the Hot Seat in 2016
Gus Bradley, Jacksonville Jaguars
It doesn’t get much hotter than this. Jaguars head coach Gus Bradley took over after the 2012 season ended with a 2-14 record but hasn’t made a noticeable improvement to the team’s record, so far accumulating a 12-36 record during his three-year tenure.
His initial 2013 season was truly a trainwreck, as the Jags racked up a -14.20 nERD. This was the fifth-worst season by this metric since 2000. Bradley is the only head coach to have put up a bottom-10 nERD score and remain employed by that team. While he has made steady progression in nERD annually (-14.20, -8.87, -7.08), Jacksonville ownership’s patience has to be wearing thin.
Young quarterback Blake Bortles is entering his third year with the team, as is wide receiver Allen Robinson, so the hope is that this high-potential but erratic offense matures and delivers a good follow-up to their 2015 strides. With a 2015 defense that was 14th-worst in Adjusted Defensive NEP per play since the new millennium, however, and having spent six of their seven NFL Draft selections on defensive players, Bradley’s young squad has a lot of growing up to do fast.
Seat Heat: 5 “Scorchios” out of 5. 2016 is an ultimatum year for a promising team in a very winnable division. After drafting in the top-five for the last four seasons, the team needs to show results soon.