NFL.com recently conducted an exclusive interview with former Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer. Meyer was fired by Jacksonville shortly after midnight on Thursday morning.
The interview covered many of the unflattering headlines that have colored the coach’s tenure in Duval, but started with an apology. Meyer apologized to the City of Jacksonville and painted the picture of a successful football future for the City, including a full stadium and a new facility promised by Jaguars’ owner Shad Khan.
Meyer talked a bit about something that he didn’t have a ton of experience with previously: losing. Meyer commented, “Losing eats away at your soul. Once you start losing, it’s hard on everybody.” This was perhaps most clear during what would be Meyer’s last post-game handshake of the 2021 NFL season, in which it seemed he couldn’t be bothered to even look at his former assistant, Titans’ head coach Mike Vrabel, after a convincing 20-0 loss. Meyer commented on that moment, claiming that he and Vrabel are really close and saying, “that had nothing to do with [Vrabel]…I can’t take losing. I try to accept it, it just eats away at my soul.”
On many of the recent headlines that were thought to have contributed to his early exit, Meyer argued that they just weren’t true. Meyer said that a reported incident during which team captain Marvin Jones left the facility due to Meyer’s public and private criticism was not accurately portrayed. He also completely denied that he delivered a message to his assistant coaches that he is a winner and they are losers. Meyer also disputed that a preseason altercation occurred wherein he kicked former Jaguars’ kicker Josh Lambo while Lambo was stretching. Meyer was quoted saying, “It was like, ‘Wait a minute, where is this coming from?’ I’ve certainly made a few mistakes but those weren’t right.”
Meyer was asked about another highly criticized decision he made of benching James Robinson for an extended period of time against the Rams. The second-year running back is widely thought to be the best player on the struggling Jaguars. Meyer shrugged the decision off as a miscommunication. “We discussed it as a staff,” said Meyer. “When you see someone lose the ball or even see them be loose with the ball, get them out of the game, get their mind right, and then get them back in. When he fumbled, I said, ‘Take him out.’ We took him out and then we had lack of communication about when to put him back in.”
The other young star on Meyer’s former team is number one overall pick Trevor Lawrence. Meyer was complimentary of the 22 year old quarterback, commiserating with the tough situation he was put into. Meyer noted the franchise’s 15-game losing streak and injuries to key contributors on offense as obstacles Lawrence had to face. He ended the discussion on Lawrence saying, “There is zero doubt Trevor is going to be a great NFL quarterback.”
Questions were delivered on if there is an ongoing discussion with Jacksonville about the remaining money owed on his contract and on if Khan made the right move. Meyer declined to comment on both questions.
When asked what comes next for Meyer, he replied, “To be determined.” As of now, he has not heard from anyone in the football world about potential coaching opportunities. One can’t help but to think of where Meyer was a year ago, when he claimed he was living “the perfect life:” working at FOX with no plans to coach in the future.
geez, what a worm
He’s been trash his entire career, the nfl just made it obvious.
Does anyone really think another coach will turn the Jags into something other than a dumpster fire?
if “not the one singular laughing stock of the league” is an acceptable bar, then I think they could clear that. maybe.
It can be done. They have the QB in Lawrence. They just need to get a coach who maximize his potential, and they need to get him a TE.
TE? They had Tebow and cut him!!! :0)
I’m not sold on Lawrence just yet, he misses basic throws that a NFL QB needs to make. Will he get there? Perhaps but right now he looks overwhelmed in the role, so I wouldn’t say zero chance.
Narcissist personified
When asked what comes next for Meyer, he replied, “Lawyer up.”
Does Urban Meyer want to take this to court and have his dirty laundry put in the headlines more? It’s probably in both parties interest to settle fast and let this story die.
There is roughly $40 mil left on the table. He will try to get that money if he was fired unfairly.
Coach or not, Lambo should have punched Meyer in the face.
If he’s telling the truth, how come nobody else spoke up and said these reports were lies?
Sound like he’s positioning to keep more of his money.
I’m waiting on the other shoe to drop where former college players and assistants start looking for their 15 minutes of fame and start telling of his prior transgressions. You don’t act like this just in the NFL when you are like him. I’d say that what is eating at his soul isn’t losing but being a loser in his treatment of others.
Trevor Lawrence needs stability and a consistent system/approach. Jaguars need to be patient with whoever they hire to coach Lawrence and not change stuff every year like what happened with Alex Smith in his first few years.
Get him some WRs, get him a TE via draft and free agency.
Eric Bienemy would probably be my first coach candidate. Followed by Klint Kubiak the vikings offensive coordinator. Young and up coming offensive mind in my book.
I wouldn’t go with Bienemy I’d go with Jim Leonard from Wisconsin he played almost a decade in the NFL.
Herein lies the main issue….winning vs losing. Ronald Jones, he of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, fumbled on opening night….he’s never gotten his job back. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are winning right now. The Jaguars and James Robinson, (whether he’s playing or not), are losing. I’ve seen a few of the Tampa Bay Buccaneer press conferences after a loss, Bruce Arians is not afraid to let his team know that they played losing football and that if they continue to do that, they will be a bunch of losers. However, they are winning so he can say that. Meyer says that and he’s vilified….because his team is losing. We could be having this very same conversation if Tampa Bay was losing. Winning solves everything!!
Now the difference is Robinson is averaging almost 5 yards per carry while Hyde is less than 4. Meanwhile in tampa bay Fournette and Jones have similar yards per carry.
If you want a reason why Jacksonville has been a dumpster fire for all of Khan’s tenure as owner minus 2017 season look no further than the Scouting department many of the scouts in that department have been there for 10+ years. If I had a scouting department that produce these types of results for a decade I would get rid of all of them.Then he has his son as the Chief Football Strategy Officer mind you he has no football experience prior to that role. People can talk about Urban all they want but a coach is only as good as the talent he has to work with and the Jacksonville front office has not provided any results in that area for well over a decade.
Jimmy Johnson made a great observation on Dan Patrick he said when he went to the NFL from the university of Miami he took all of his people with him including the secretary from the University of Miami. I think Urban only has one person that he took with him from his time in college football. Urban certainly made a lot of missteps in his time with the Jaguars but that may have been the biggest of all.
Excellent point about that scouting department. For the longest time it had a limited scope, focusing most of the resources on in-state prospects.
Dude is an idiot. Has been run out of great situations and opportunities because of his ego and entitlement attitude. No one likes to lose, because you do it isn’t a excuse to act like a child. SMH.
He’ll sue for the rest of his pay day. My guess is they’ll be a settlement. My guess is he winds up in Texas or UCLA.
My guess is he’ll sue for the rest of his payday. They’ll be a settlement. My guess is he winds up in
Texas or UCLA
Seriously, I hope someone is watching him because based on his remarks, he may be suicidal.