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Michael DiRocco
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Jacksonville Jaguars have settled on five finalists for their vacant general manager position and will begin in-person interviews Wednesday.
San Francisco 49ers director of scouting and football operations Josh Williams, Los Angeles Rams director of scouting strategy James Gladstone, Chicago Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham and Green Bay Packers VP of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan were picked from a group of 10 candidates that interviewed virtually.
Current Jaguars interim GM Ethan Waugh, who took over the job when the Jaguars and former GM Trent Baalke parted ways on Jan. 22, is also a finalist. A league source told ESPN last week that the Jaguars hoped to make a hire by the end of the upcoming week.
None of the five finalists have been a general manager before, which means the team’s three main decision-makers will be rookies. Liam Coen is a first-time head coach and Tony Boselli is just weeks into his tenure as the team’s executive VP of football operations.
Williams has been with San Francisco’s scouting department since 2011, moving from a pro personnel scout to an area scout to a national scout. He was promoted to the director of scouting and football operations in 2024. Gladstone has been with the Rams since 2016, starting as a senior assistant to GM Les Snead before working as the player personnel coordinator, the director of scouting and the director of scouting strategy, a position he has held for the past three years.
Cunningham has been the assistant to Bears GM Ryan Poles for the past three seasons. Prior to that, he spent a year as Philadelphia’s director of player personnel, two years as the Eagles’ assistant director of player personnel and two years as the Eagles’ director of college scouring. Cunningham spent four years as an area scout with Baltimore after spending four years as the Ravens’ player personnel assistant, where he worked with former GM Ozzie Newsome.
Sullivan has been with the Packers since 2004, beginning his career in the team’s football operations department. He has been a regional scout, the director of college scouting, the co-director of player personnel, and has been the VP of player personnel for the past three years.
Baalke hired Waugh to be the Jaguars’ assistant GM in 2022. Before that, Waugh spent 19 years with San Francisco, beginning his career as a personnel assistant in 2004. He also worked as a regional scout, a senior personnel assistant, the senior player personnel coordinator, the director of college scouting and football systems and the VP of player personnel.