The last time former San Francisco 49ers general manager Trent Baalke was in the NFL, he served as the Jacksonville Jaguars general manager from 2021 to 2024.
The Jaguars made the playoffs once in four seasons. Baalke got it right at quarterback with Trevor Lawrence in a forgettable 2021 QB class. Jacksonville won three games during Lawrence’s rookie season.
In Baalke’s final season, the Jaguars won four games. Sandwiched in between those seasons were two nine-win seasons. Two coaches were fired during Baalke’s tenure. One of them was the worst head coach of this century in Urban Meyer.
Despite all that, and how his time ended with the 49ers, Baalke has found himself back in the NFL. After seemingly every draft analyst labeled the Cleveland Browns winners, the optimism that followed was downplayed after the team added Baalke over the weekend in a “consultant-like capacity.”
The Browns have a history of bringing in failed executives, so this is on brand for Cleveland. Jaguars fans were optimistic about Baalke in the early years. Still, his decisions in Jacksonville, between roster choices and coaching hires, made it easy for them to turn on the same guy who could not say no to a prospect recovering from an ACL injury.
After all of these years, it’s not surprising to see what Jim Harbaugh has accomplished compared to Baalke since they departed from the Bay Area.