The Jacksonville Jaguars are prepared to make Mike Sheppard their next quarterbacks coach, a source with knowledge of the situation said Saturday.
Sheppard, whom the source said will be officially hired Monday, confirmed the move to the Cincinnati Bengals' website. He spent the past four seasons as the Bengals' wide receivers coach.
"They don't let many people go, but they knew how much I wanted to coach quarterbacks again," said Sheppard, who coached Jaguars offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter at Idaho State and tutored quarterbacks for the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints. "Our quarterbacks are coached very well here (by Ken Zampese), so there was no place to move."
Sheppard has held two head-coaching positions in college (Long Beach State and New Mexico), as well as NFL offensive coordinator duties with the San Diego Chargers (1997-98), Buffalo Bills (2001) and Saints (2005). He took his first NFL job in 1993 as tight ends coach for the Cleveland Browns.
Jacksonville's quarterbacks coach position had become a hot potato of sorts in recent weeks. Todd Monken was promoted from receivers coach last month after Mike Shula left to take the Carolina Panthers' quarterbacks coach job. However, Monken stepped down earlier this week to take the offensive coordinator job at Oklahoma State.
