“I thought it was him being a little cautious, and
then I talked to some other people and they
said, ‘Oh, yeah, Dave has some germophobic
tendencies,’” Webb said.
The GM and his wife and son had been
strictly abiding by public health guidelines for
avoiding the virus, he told Webb, making clear
the Caldwell family was not contributing to
any spread.
“No pressure there,” Webb said.
At one point, with about 90 seconds left on the
clock for the Jaguars to turn in a pick, Caldwell
inadvertently knocked one of his computer
connections off line with a paper notebook on
his desk. Order was quickly restored, but the
entire experience was enough to rattle the most
steely of resolves.
“It’s the most critical time-sensitive thing I’ve
been involved in,” Webb said. “Multiple times, it
was touch and go.”
The biggest setback for the Jaguars might
actually have been for head coach Doug
Marrone’s dog. The NFL distributed super-
size containers of M&Ms for draft-weekend
decision-making that got mixed in with boxes
of equipment in Webb’s car, leading to internal
accusations of candy theft. So he left them on
Marrone’s desk during pre-draft preparations.
A rip in the bag led to an unapproved dose of
chocolate for the family pet.
Webb also had to arrange draft communications
for owner Shad Kahn and son Tony Khan on
their downtown yacht, with a storm during the
first round adding to the connection challenges
created by the changing tide in the port.