Florida Gators to hire David Caldwell as general manager after Jaguars failures, Eagles successes

Football

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Image Credit: Jacksonville Jaguars

While the Florida Gators have finalized their hiring of Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as the team’s next head football coach, the program is also planning to add David Caldwell as the program’s general manager, according to multiple reports. Caldwell has spent his entire career with the NFL, most notably as GM of the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013-20.

Across eight years in Jacksonville, the team compiled a 37-86 (.301) record, one of the worst in the NFL. Caldwell was fired after the Jags went 1-15 in his final season, and he was widely panned for his consistent failures in evaluating top-level talent, as only two of his nine first-round picks were re-signed by the franchise. (He was, however, praised for his ability to find diamonds in the rough later in drafts).

Caldwell was scooped up by the Philadelphia Eagles as a personnel executive in 2021 with GM Howie Roseman — a Florida alumnus — promoting him to senior personnel director and advisor to the general manager in 2022. The Eagles won Super Bowls XLI and LIX with Caldwell serving a key role in the organization. The Gators had interviewed Caldwell for this role prior to the 2025 season.

Evaluating the fit of Caldwell at UF is difficult considering the responsibilities of a college GM do not align directly with those of an NFL GM. However, talent evaluation is generally one of those key roles, and history has proven him to be a failure in that area, despite technically drafting more Pro Bowlers than any other GM in franchise history.

(The Jacksonville franchise has struggled across a variety of leaders and coaches, and one presumes Roseman — arguably the best GM in the NFL — was consulted as part of the Caldwell acquisition process.)

Florida may see Caldwell more as an overall program leader who focuses on NIL roster management, an area in which he could excel compared to his work as a talent evaluator.

Caldwell has nearly 30 years of NFL front-office experience. He worked his way up from scouting roles with the Carolina Panthers (1996-97) and Indianapolis Colts (1998-07) to become director of college scouting and director of player personnel for the Atlanta Falcons (2008-12). The Falcons won 70% of their games with him on staff, which led to his poaching by the Jaguars.