After owner Wayne Weaver declined to discuss coach Jack Del Rio’s future and Del Rio’s season-ending press conference was postponed, things didn’t look good for the man who has patrolled the sidelines in Jacksonville for the last eight years, winning 66 games and losing 65.
According to the Associated Press, Del Rio will return for a ninth.
It makes sense, in light of the team’s revised press conference schedule. Weaver will meet with the media at 5:30 p.m. ET, and Del Rio will conduct his press conference at 10:00 a.m. ET Tuesday. If Del Rio was no longer going to be an employee of the organization, he wouldn’t have been conducting a press conference announced by the team.
Thus, Weaver will make the formal announcement at 5:30 p.m. ET and take the heat from anyone in the local media who may be inclined to question Weaver aggressively regarding his decision to continue to employ Del Rio despite three years without a playoff appearance.
In the end, the move surely was influenced by the $5 million salary due to Del Rio in 2011 and 2012. Also, the possibility of a lockout that stretches deep into the offseason and possibly into September would limit dramatically the access a new coach will have to his new team.