Rick Spielman, Minnesota Vikings. (Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports)
Rick Spielman may have been fired as Minnesota Vikings general manager, but he appears to be close to joining the Jacksonville Jaguars’ front office.
After failing to make the playoffs for the second-consecutive year, the Minnesota Vikings opted to clean house by firing Mike Zimmer as head coach and Rick Spielman as general manager. With his tenure in Minnesota ending after over 15 years, Spielman is close to earning a new job in the NFL.
Mike Garafolo of NFL Network reported that the Jacksonville Jaguars were close to adding Spielman to their front office. Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports noted that Spielman to Jacksonville was picking up steam, where he would land a role that reports to team owner Shad Khan and that is above general manager Trent Baalke.
Former Vikings GM Rick Spielman close to joining Jaguars front office
As mentioned earlier, Spielman spent a large part of his career with the Vikings. He joined back in 2006 as vice president of player personnel after spending five years with the Miami Dolphins (2000-04). In 2012, Spielman was named general manager, a position he held until the end of the 2021 regular-season.
Now, it looks as though Spielman can add the Jaguars to his resume if they can agree to terms and finalize a deal. If they do, it will remain to be seen what his official job title will be.
The Jaguars have been the story of the offseason due to their lengthy head coaching search. Even though they were one of the first teams in need of a new sideline boss after the firing of Urban Meyer, Jacksonville watched as five other teams signed or zeroed in on their next head coach.
On Thursday night, the Jaguars ended their search, as they hired former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Doug Pederson to fill their vacancy.
With Pederson set to be introduced in a press conference on Saturday, Feb. 5, it will be interesting to see when and if they can sign Spielman to their front office.