The Jacksonville Jaguars have an enormously important offseason ahead of them.
They currently hold the No. 1 selection in the draft, which is most likely going to be prized Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
A few years ago, Jacksonville was contending for a Super Bowl, but now are searching for a general manager in what looks like a rebuilding stage for the franchise.
The organization announced that they plan to interview former Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer for their GM vacancy.
The #Jaguars plan to interview former #Browns GM Ray Farmer for their GM job, per source. Veteran personnel man is now a scouting consultant with the #Rams.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 5, 2021
Farmer was the general manager for Cleveland in 2014-2015, but hasn’t done much in the league since then.
He interviewed for the Houston Texans GM job in 2019, but they ended up handing over full control to then-coach Bill O’Brien.
The Ray Farmer Era
It’s unclear why the Jaguars want to hire a general manager who is arguably one of the worst in the league.
Browns fans certainly want to forget the horrendous moves Farmer made while in Cleveland.
Farmer was given the Browns GM job without an interview after parting ways with then-CEO Joe Banner and general manager Michael Lombardi.
His lack of selecting game-changing talent sent the Browns into a long and frustrating rebuild.
Farmer was handed two-first round picks and a large sum of cap space to begin his tenure as Browns GM.
Cleveland selected defensive back Justin Gilbert with the No. 8 selection in the 2014 NFL Draft.
Justin Gilbert was the 8th overall pick for the Browns in the 2014 NFL Draft. https://t.co/UUtaWos8QH
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) February 6, 2017
Gilbert recorded 39 tackles with one interception in his two seasons with Cleveland.
He has not played in the NFL since the 2016 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Sadly, it gets worse for Cleveland as Farmer then selected the man, the myth, the legend, quarterback Johnny Manziel.
The Cleveland #Browns #6 worst 1st round pick since 1999 is QB Johnny Manziel. The 22nd pick in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M.#CLEPickHistory pic.twitter.com/xBsSY81Wap
— Everything Cleveland (@EverythingCLE_) April 25, 2019
Before drafting Manziel, the Browns used analytics to review every quarterback who has played in the NFL over the past 20 years, according to Sal Paolantonio.
The results came back that Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had the best chance to succeed.
Obviously, the Browns then decided to take Manziel.
Manziel started eight games in his NFL career and has been out of the league since 2015.
Those are just a few of the awful decisions the Browns front office made under Farmer.
The Chaos Continues
Farmer might end up going down as one of the worst NFL general managers in history.
In 2014, he was suspended four games for sending in-game text messages to persuade the coaching staff to make certain decisions.
NFL suspends Browns GM Ray Farmer 4 games for the TextGate scandal, fines team $250K. http://t.co/HZDuye2bva pic.twitter.com/Q2lhO2zOul
— theScore (@theScore) March 30, 2015
Farmer wanted the coaching staff to bench quarterback Brian Hoyer for Manziel.
Thankfully for Browns fans, Farmer was fired after the final game of the 2015 season.
Only one of Farmer’s four first-round selections (Danny Shelton) lasted longer than two seasons in the league.
It took the Browns years to fix the mess that Farmer caused to the franchise.
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