Trent Baalke's Rocky NFL Journey: From GM to Controversy

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00:00Trent Balki fascinates me though, as he's a longtime executive around the NFL.

00:05Back in the mid 2010s, he was the GM in San Francisco.

00:08There were reports that he and Jim Harbaugh at the time were bickering.

00:12It led to Harbaugh resigning, heading to Michigan,

00:16the promotion of Jim Tomsula as the head coach in 2015.

00:20A five win season that led to the hiring of Chip Kelly the next year.

00:25A two win season that ultimately led to both Chip Kelly and Balki getting fired.

00:30Trent Balki then comes to Jacksonville as a director of player personnel.

00:35Gets promoted to interim GM at the end of his first year in 2020, and

00:40then promoted to full time GM entering the 2021 off season.

00:45In which he drafts Trevor Lawrence first overall and hires Urban Meyer.

00:50Of course, Urban Meyer was fired after only 15 games of his first year.

00:55Trevor Lawrence has had some high highs, and some low lows.

00:59But entering this past season, the fourth of Lawrence's career,

01:03five year, $275 million extension.

01:06That at the time,

01:07made Trevor Lawrence one of the highest paid players in the history of the NFL.

01:12It's a weird situation, because you are tied to a quarterback at least for

01:17a few years.

01:18One you hope is the face of the franchise, and a former number one overall pick.

01:24And yet you're reporting into the owner.

01:26You have a GM that some see is not the best at his job.

01:31John, I saw a quote yesterday from a potential head coaching candidate for

01:37any of the jobs, but also in Jacksonville.

01:40Who said that the retention of Balki creates a weird situation.

01:44That if Jacksonville is truly trying to move the franchise forward,

01:48then you get rid of the GM too.

01:50They decided not to do that.

01:52Yeah, it's just weird.

01:53Because the pecking order is supposed to be head coach, GM,

01:57maybe team president, owner.

01:59And now you're just basically skipping the GM.

02:02And again, if that was the case, then why do you keep the guy?

02:04It almost seems like it's in spite.

02:06And like, all right, you gave this $275 million contract to this guy.

02:11You know what?

02:11Like I said before, you're gonna stick around.

02:13You're gonna have to suffer the consequences.

02:15I'm not gonna let you go walk free.

02:17Go away and leave us hanging with this guy contract and this player.

02:20I think you could win with Trevor Lawrence.

02:23Ultimately, is he like lived up to all the hype?

02:25He was supposed to be the greatest thing in the world.

02:27No, clearly not, right?

02:29But we've seen enough bad quarterbacks be able to make the post-season.

02:32You should be able to win with him.

02:35They just have not done that except for that one season where they look great.

02:38They look like year number two,

02:39look like he was gonna be the greatest thing in the world.

02:41And it just hasn't really, it's regressed since that point.

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