Story by
Jacksonville Jaguars are still struggling to escape the fallout from Urban Meyer
- Story by
- Jacksonville Jaguars are still struggling to escape the fallout from Urban Meyer
The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Urban Meyer almost 100 days ago.
However, the franchise still cannot avoid negative fallout from the apparent mistake in hiring the former successful college head coach.
Every positive step the Jaguars are taking right now — such as putting more veteran talent on the roster with the additions of wide receiver Christian Kirk and five-time Pro Bowl Brandon Scherff in free agency last week — it's still challenging to break from the grip from last season's dysfunction.
Advertisement
On Monday, The Athletic posted a scathing report looking back at the Meyer-run Jaguars of last season.
An unnamed veteran member of the football operations staff was quoted in the article: ''The most toxic environment I've ever been a part of. By far. Not even close.''
The article details examples of Meyer's erratic behavior, including an incident when one of his players missed an assignment during a preseason game that led to a busted play. The article describes Meyer being furious about the mishap, busting into a room full of players.
Urban Meyer timeline: From bar video to kicking kicker, Urban Meyer era with Jaguars riddled with controversy
Advertisement
First practice: Jaguars players more 'focused' than relieved about the firing of Urban Meyer
A familiar exit: Urban Meyer and Bobby Petrino left their NFL gigs in strikingly similar fashion
And Meyer fumed about it for two days, threatening to cut players if it happened again.
"And do you know what would happen if I cut you guys?" Meyer said, according to four people in the room, The Athletic reported. "You couldn't get a job paying more than $15 an hour."
Throughout the season ex-Jaguars wide receiver DJ Chark never openly criticized Meyer on the record. Last June after an organized team activity practice, Chark received his harshest public criticism from Meyer since he joined the Jaguars as a second-round pick in 2018.
Advertisement
''He didn't play well last year (2020), and his first year he was very good,'' Meyer said. ''I just didn't like his size or strength. I just thought it was way below average, way below from what we expect from our receivers.''
When Chark was asked for a response, he said that he love the challenge.
''I love talking to Coach Meyer, he's a competitor, and he's going to push me,'' Chark said back in June.
DJ Chark said Meyer routinely threatened to fire coaches, cut players
In The Athletic article, Chark painted Meyer with a much different brush. With no more ties with the Jaguars after signing a one-year contract with the Detroit Lions last week, Chark said Meyer routinely threatened to fire coaches and cut players.
Advertisement
"He feels like threats are what motivates," Chark told The Athletic. "I know he would come up to us and tell us if the receivers weren't doing good, he wasn't going to fire us, he was going to fire our coach. He would usually say that when the coach was around."
The article provided multiple examples of how badly Meyer treated players and his staff. Perhaps the worst treatment by Meyer, according to The Athletic, occurred after veteran receiver John Brown signed with the Jaguars as a free agent, he ran the wrong route in practice.
Brown, an ex-Gator, ran through the route again after practice with quarterback Trevor Lawrence when Meyer approached.
"Hey, Trevor, you've got to slow it down for him," Meyer said, according to sources. "These boys from the South, their transcripts ain't right."
Advertisement
Meyer often mispronounced players' names, and occasionally he couldn't remember who they were. It was enough of a problem that the Jaguars public relations staff would make sure to have a flip card with the lineups and rosters of the Jaguars and the opponent they were playing during game week.
Report: Urban Meyer unfamiliar with stars around NFL
The Athletic, citing multiple sources, said Meyer was unfamiliar with star players around the league, including 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel, Seahawks safety Jamal Adams and Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald, a three-time NFL defensive player of the year.
Ultimately, Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired Meyer 13 games into his first season on December 15. It came shortly after former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times that Meyer kicked him during a practice in August.
Advertisement
The beginning of the end for Meyer, 57, occurred in October when two embarrassing videos surfaced on Twitter. One of the videos showed Meyer touching a woman's backside in a restaurant bar in Columbus, Ohio. Another video showed Meyer sitting in a chair while a woman who is not his wife was seen dancing up to him.
Instead of flying back with the team after their 24-21 Thursday night loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 4 that dropped the Jaguars to 0-4, Meyer chose to remain in Ohio.
Khan blasted Meyer's behavior as inexcusable, declaring that Meyer must regain their trust and respect and it was going to take a personal commitment from Meyer to everyone who supports, represents or plays for our team.
A December report from NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, citing sources, cited many of the same problems The Athletic article mentioned about multiple run-ins with players and coaches that had developed into an ongoing tension at the Jaguars facility for months.
Advertisement
Both Pelissero's and The Athletic's articles included the Dec. 5 game against the Los Angeles Rams when Jaguars running back James Robinson appeared to get punished for fumbling when he sat out for 20 plays. But instead of taking ownership for the decision to bench Robinson, Meyer told reporters after the game to ask running backs coach Bernie Parmalee for an explanation. Meyer also said he didn't micromanage his assistants.
The Athletic, citing sources, reported that in a staff meeting the next morning after the Rams, Meyer denied ever telling his coaches to bench Robinson. He said his assistants had misinterpreted him.
''I feel like he put us in very bad positions and, when the questions came, he deferred the responsibility, which made it look like we were just out there being the worst team in the league," Chark told the Athletic. "But we weren't put in position (to succeed). Trevor is a great quarterback. He was not put in good positions.
"He told us from day one that he was going to maximize our value. And I truly can't tell you one player that maximized their value on the Jags this year."
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Urban Meyer's disastrous year with Jaguars re-examined by The Athletic
