Trent Baalke and the Jaguars were once on the Lions' path. Where did it go wrong?

( Editors note: This is excerpted from Mike Sandos Pick Six of Jan.

27, 2025.) The Jaguars firing of GM Trent Baalke last week provided a good opportunity to stack won-lost records for all the GMs hired in the 2021 cycle.

The results are about what one might expect.

The Lions Brad Holmes resides at the top with a 39-28-1 (.581) record.

Baalke resides at the bottom (25-43, .368).

It was not always this way.

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That was the week Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence passed for 364 yards as Jacksonville won at Houston to reach 8-3 on the season and 20-25 (.444) during Baalke's GM run.

"Our guys are learning how to finish," then-Jaguars coach Doug Pederson said after that game.

Advertisement That same week, Green Bay scored a 29-22 upset at Detroit, dropping the Lions to 8-3 on the season and 20-24-1 (.456) during Holmes' GM run.

It was a tough defeat, but Detroit, like Jacksonville, loved its trajectory.

One-half game separated the teams in the standings to that point in their respective builds.

The Lions are 19-5 since, tied for the best record in the NFL.

The Jaguars are 6-18, tied for the worst.

The Jaguars might have kept pace if Lawrence had developed as hoped, but the Lions' foundation proved far more stable.

Among the ways: Alignment/vision: The Lions hired Holmes before hiring coach Dan Campbell.

The Jaguars hired Urban Meyer as coach in 2021, then promoted Baalke to GM a few days later.

Meyer was a disaster.

The Jaguars fired him after 13 games, hiring Pederson as his successor.

While the Lions' alignment through their GM and coach helped them execute a coherent plan from the beginning, Jacksonville emerged from Meyer's failure looking to make up lost ground quickly.

GO DEEPER Inside Urban Meyer's disastrous year with Jaguars Free agency: The Lions all but sat out free agency in 2021 and 2022, when their biggest investment was a one-year deal for D.J.

Chark.

The Jaguars added Shaqill Griffin ($40 million over three years), Roy Robertson-Harris ($23.4 million over three) and Rayshawn Jenkins ($35 million over four) in 2021, followed a year later by Christian Kirk ($84 million over four), Brandon Scherff ($66 million over four), Foyesade Oluokun ($45 million over three), Darious Williams ($30 million over three) and Foley Fatukasi ($30 million over three).

Some were obvious overpays, but as an executive from another team said of the Jaguars in March 2023, "They did a really good job, and I think just based on the way they are set up, they are set up better than anybody in that division right now." Draft hits: While both teams have used a similar number of picks in early rounds since 2021, Detroit has drafted six Pro Bowl players over that span (Penei Sewell, Jahmyr Gibbs, Aidan Hutchinson, Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta, Amon-Ra St.

Brown), compared to just one for Jacksonville (Lawrence, who since faltered).

There's no substitute for drafting and developing.

That second part, developing, is sometimes overlooked.

Advertisement While the Jaguars' decision to select Travon Walker atop the 2022 draft notably let the Lions pick Hutchinson at No.

2, the draft order in 2021 proved more fateful.

The Jaguars held the first pick and selected Lawrence, a move every other team needing a quarterback likely would have made.

The Lions held the seventh pick and knew they wouldn't have their choice of QBs.

They traded Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff, two first-round picks and a third-rounder.

They used the seventh pick on Sewell, a cornerstone tackle.

Goff has outperformed Lawrence with a better team around him.

The Lions parlayed the Rams' picks into a haul of players.

The Jaguars' spending in free agency might have helped them in the short term, but in retrospect, it appears they lacked the organizational culture, leadership and personnel to sustain success.

Recent events are not encouraging.

(Photo: James Gilbert / Getty Images).

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