Urban

Meyer

It’s impossible to get every noteworthy quote and story in this space, so it’s best to click the link below to read the full story. But Meyer arrived in Jacksonville and almost immediately started getting on the bad sides of everybody around him. He threatened to cut players for preseason mistakes, saying, “You couldn’t get a job paying more than $15 an hour,” according to numerous people in the room at the time. Meanwhile, now-former Jaguars WR D.J. Chark said Meyer would routinely threaten to fire assistant coaches in front of the players, choosing to lead by fear and intimidation. Meyer, per Chark, pushed for live contact drills early in the summer despite objections from those around him, and one drill ended with Chark breaking his finger and missing the rest of training camp. Meyer also allegedly belittled veteran WR John Brown in front of teammates, and he made another unnamed player cry at one point. One member of the football operations staff called Meyer’s tenure the “most toxic environment I’ve ever been apart of.” And this doesn’t even come close to encompassing all of Meyer’s dysfunction. He apparently wasn’t familiar with opponents, failed to board the team flight back home from the Week 4 loss in Cincinnati, allegedly kicked K Josh Lambo for missing kicks, benched James Robinson and then put him back in hurt in garbage time, and refused to take any blame for his team’s performance. Meyer will never sniff the NFL again.

Meyer was fired for “cause,” with the team withholding the remaining guarantees in his contract. This doesn’t look related to kicker Josh Lambo’s accusation that Meyer kicked him during an August practice, with Jaguars officials instead citing “a cumulation of instances.” Meyer had no shortage of controversy in his 11-month tenure in Jacksonville, from viral videos to berating his team and coaching staff, though these types of situations typically end in settlements. Meyer’s five-year deal was estimated between $10-12 million annually. Any savings would be a win for Jacksonville.

This had become the only possible outcome to the most disastrous NFL head-coaching stint in recent memory. The die was cast in Week 4, when Meyer made the legendarily selfish decision to skip the team flight home following a wrenching Thursday night loss in Cincinnati to party in his home state, getting caught on candid camera pathetically cavorting with a woman who was not his wife. Predictably hubristic in his first taste of the big leagues, Meyer was unpredictably completely overmatched, getting worse — far worse — as the season wore on and losing his locker room in real time. The Jags were averaging nine points over their past seven games, historically bad output. Meyer’s golden goose No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence had totaled one touchdown in his past six starts, seeming overwhelmed on the field and embarrassed off of it. Lawrence — as well as his 52 teammates — had been put in the unacceptable position of continually having to answer for his head coach’s foibles, both on and off the field. The situation was not tenable, least of all because Meyer seemed to have no clue what it took to win NFL football games. He committed the cardinal sin of turning his franchise into a laughingstock. This will undoubtedly be Meyer’s final NFL job. The question becomes whether he will return to the college sidelines or retreat to the warm cocoon of television.

Khan said he would not be “helter skelter” in his approach to the beleaguered Meyer, who reportedly called Jacksonville assistant coaches “losers” and has lost support in the team’s locker room. “I think we have a history of looking at the facts and doing the right thing,” Khan said. “Wins and losses, this is a little bit different. I’m going to reflect on all of that and do what’s the right thing for the team and the right thing for the city.” NFL reporter Josina Anderson reported Tuesday that Khan met with Meyer’s coaching staff and expressed confidence in the group. Anderson cited sources who said the Jags coaches felt “undermined” and “under appreciated.” Pressure to fire Meyer could build over the regular season’s final four weeks, forcing Khan to part ways with the legendary college coach after a single failed pro season. Meyer’s year with the Jaguars has been an unmitigated disaster from the very beginning. Hopefully the unending tumult of 2021 won’t affect Trevor Lawrence -- among the league’s least effective quarterbacks -- in 2022.

Meyer downplayed calling out his assistants and getting into a shouting match with veteran WR Marvin Jones after reports on his status with the team surfaced this weekend. The Jaguars responded with a shutout loss to the Titans on Sunday, their fifth straight under the first-year coach. Meyer has already spoken with owner Shad Khan and plans to address reports with the team Monday. For now, the Jaguars will “stay the course” with Meyer, but given the on-field product and off-field chatter, there’s remains a real possibility of a mutiny or Meyer walking away after the season.

Jaguars players vented frustration to Rams players after last week’s loss, according to Pelissero, while assistant coaches have been thrown under the bus for Jacksonville’s 2-10 season. Meyer’s “shifting blame to players and coaches” has created a toxic environment, with “multiple heated exchanges” between the team and Meyer. Veteran and team captain Marvin Jones left the team facility before being convinced to come back over Meyer’s criticism of the receiver group, while Trevor Lawrence questioned Meyer on the sidelines after his first-quarter benching of star RB James Robinson last week. For now, there are no signs owner Shad Khan is considering firing Meyer, but that could change if Meyer continues to lose the locker room. Meyer has said he remains committed to the Jaguars but his name will likely continue to be connected to college coaching vacancies between now and the offseason.

During his weekly radio show with 1010XL AM, Meyer went on a long fake spiel about “earning the players trust back” following his viral videos after skipping the team flight and attempting to “move forward” with the locker room in unison. He also said “the ownership of this team is with the players,” suggesting the 53-man roster that he singlehandedly ignored and destroyed is to blame for Jacksonville’s 0-4 start. Owner Shad Kahn reaffirmed his confidence (and disappointment) in Meyer on Tuesday but this fairy tale is headed in one obvious direction. A multi-score loss to Tennessee on Sunday would be damning.

Khan said he “addressed” the controversial social media video with Meyer, who must now “regain our trust and respect.” Khan has chosen to extend the franchise’s nightmarish melodrama. It appears Meyer has avoided the pink slip -- for now. Meyer, per reports from Sports Illustrated’s Mike Silver, may have already lost the Jaguars locker room. Players told Silver that Meyer has “zero credibility” among the team and that players laughed at his awkward apology for being caught on camera getting cozy with a much younger woman in a bar following the team’s Week 4 loss to the Bengals. Silver reported players “were particularly put off by the fact that Meyer canceled Monday’s team meeting” while he dealt with the fallout of his latest controversy. Meyer’s chances of finishing the season as the Jags’ head coach are markedly worse today than they were yesterday.

It’s likely Urban Meyer’s disastrous eight months as Jacksonville’s head coach, capped off by an embarrassing video of Meyer in an Ohio bar last week, prompted the closed-door discussions. Meyer offered a muted apology on Monday for the video, which caught fire on social media and raised questions about Meyer not traveling with the Jaguars after a Thursday night loss to the Bengals. Sports Illustrated’s Mike Silver quoted an anonymous player Monday who said Meyer “has zero credibility in that stadium. He had very little to begin with.” Maybe Jaguars brass wants more contrition from their head coach, or maybe they’re ready to cut ties in a decidedly failed experiment. The ensuing chaos of Meyer’s potential departure would surely trickle down to the team’s players, many of whom complained about Meyers’ tactics this summer.

Meyer may not be interested in USC naming him head coach, but the same can’t be said about the NFL community. Meyer’s first NFL game was an embarrassing 37-21 loss to the Texans in which Trevor Lawrence threw three interceptions. The rookie NFL head coach can’t be fully blamed for the struggles of his rookie quarterback and suspect defense of course--but when a coach is giving more work to Carlos Hyde than James Robinson, it becomes fair to wonder what else he is getting wrong. The Jaguars will attempt to stop tanking against a formidable Broncos defense in Week 2.