Shad Khan has been here before. Perhaps not often enough and too often at the same time.
The Jacksonville Jaguars find themselves in a favorable position despite losses in back-to-back weeks. At 4-3, they hold a winning record at the bye week for just the third time since 2017. The team’s best record at the bye week came in 2023 when they were 6-2 heading into their Week 9 bye.
Jacksonville’s 4-1 start to the season was the best since earning that same start in 2007. The team has shown that it can compete with the best teams in the league, too, earning wins over the San Francisco 49ers (on the road) and the Kansas City Chiefs (at home, Monday Night Football) in back-to-back weeks.
Still, there’s a pause in the owner’s tone when speaking about the team’s early success. He’s been there, done that. No matter how few and far between the successes have been, perhaps that’s why Khan isn’t ready to hang the banner (looking at you, Indianapolis Colts).
“Encouraging, but it’s like anything else, we got to keep this going. There will be setbacks, like last week, and how do we recover from it? So, really, all the adjustments, moving in a portrait trajectory, is what it’s all about,” Khan told the Times-Union in London ahead of the team’s Week 7 game against the Rams.
Shad Khan isn’t raising a banner after Jaguars’ start to season
Khan is far away from the far-too-early declaration phase of his ownership tenure. The days of saying “this time, I got it right,” or that the team is the “best assembled” in franchise history, are long gone. Khan’s measured approach shouldn’t be taken as being scared, but moreso as having learned.
He’s not going to say, the team is good, they’re done, it’s built.
“You don’t, because I think I’ve been here now 12-plus years and I know we started 3-1 and ended up 5-11. So, and I’ve said this before many times, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We started 8-3 two years ago. Right there, No. 1 seed in the AFC, and then won one game out of the last six. So, I think you want to be optimistic, but not delusional.”
The Jaguars began the 2018 season 3-1 before losing 10 of their last 12 games. They began the year 8-3 and one game away from back-to-back AFC South titles in 2023 only to lose five of their last six games. Khan has been burned before, but won’t be caught off guard (at least publicly) anymore.
Khan has to walk a line between delegation and abdication, empowerment and micromanagement. That’s something of an evolution for Khan, who has been present throughout his tenure, but the level of presence has shifted at times. With a regime that has a new man in charge as executive vice president of football, Tony Boselli, it’s an opportunity for Khan to have a new process, but one that allows him to remain involved.
“We have a process, not only after the game, and during the week. Reviews and what have you, on a certain time set and so that gives me a good idea or feeling for the pulse,” said Khan.
For now, the Jaguars will continue operating with their young corps of leaders. General manager James Gladstone (34), Coen (39) and first-year exec Boselli (53) are the future of the franchise. Their youthful energy and minds have brought excitement to Jacksonville’s headquarters. But winning helps with that.
“When you’re winning, obviously the energy is better and I think that’s definitely there,” Khan said, adding that players have brought energy, too. “Some of the players, I think Travis Hunter, I mean, you know the energy he has and some of the older veterans, Josh Hines-Allen. Winning is something and they have to grow into a leadership role — Trevor Lawrence, obviously.”
Nothing matters until the end, though, and that’s when everyone will get a chance to see what the Jaguars are actually about and if this time, Khan got it right.
“It’s all very encouraging, but I don’t think we want to get tendonitis slapping ourselves on the back,” said Khan.
“Don’t start celebrating early. You’ve got to play to the whistle, which is 17 games,” he later added.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jaguars owner Shad Khan is optimistic, not ‘delusional’ about team’s start under Liam Coen
Reporting by Demetrius Harvey, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
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