Hindsight is 20/20 but there were signs early in Urban Meyer’s tenure as the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars that things weren’t going to work out. It all started when he announced he had hired Chris Doyle as the team’s director of sports performance.
Why Meyer thought that a coach with a history of making insensitive comments was fit to work with players is anyone’s guess. In the end, he back down and cut ties with Doyle as soon as he got backlash for the hire. However, that was far from the only blunder Meyer was going to be involved in during his tenure in Jacksonville. In fact, he was just getting started.
Meyer often belittled his assistants and even questioned their coaching acumen. Moreover, he allegedly called his coaching staff losers. The former head coach later denied the report and simply said that he holds his assistants to high standards.
Then, there’s the interaction with kicker Josh Lambo. Meyer allegedly kicked Lambo and told him to f*cking make his kicks”. When he was asked why he did that, he said he did it because “he was the head coach and he could f*cking do whatever he wanted”. Again, Meyer refused to acknowledge this happened but where there’s smoke, there’s fire and there’s no way every single report of tension building in Jacksonville was false.
The fact that Jaguars owner Shad Khan felt compelled to cut ties with Meyer after less than a year on the job goes on to show how bad he was failing at his job and how dysfunctional things had become under his watch. Looking back, these five players might have been potentially damaged by Urban Meyer’s toxic culture.
1. Jaguars player that was damaged by Urban Meyer – Myles Jack, LB.
Head coaches are supposed to know their players’ strengths and weaknesses but Meyer was often oblivious to things he should have known by heart. Linebacker Myles Jack has been a key cog in the Jaguars’ defense over the last six years and one of their best players.
Having said that, Jack is not at his best when he has to call defensive plays. Meyer didn’t seem to care as he had him wear the green dot early in the 2021 season. The then-head coach eventually took away the responsibility from the linebacker but this incident proved he wasn’t familiarized with his personnel and was figuring things on the fly.
Had Meyer spent some time learning about his players, this would have never happened.
2. Jaguars player that was damaged by Urban Meyer – Andre Cisco, S.
Andre Cisco was a ballhawk back in college, logging 13 interceptions and 14 passes defensed at Syracuse. However, he slid to the third round of the 2021 draft due to injury red flags. Fortunately, he’s been healthy throughout his rookie campaign.
You would think that a player with that kind of playmaking skills would see the field often but Cisco has spent most of the 2021 season on the sidelines, being mostly relegated to special teams. When Urban Meyer was asked why the first-year safety hadn’t gotten more playing time in Week 14, he said he had played a bit but in reality, he appeared in zero defensive snaps.
Not knowing how much playing time his players are getting was one of Meyer’s biggest blunders during his short stint in Jacksonville. He also said the coaching staff wasn’t playing Cisco more because they didn’t sacrifice winning games. Keep in mind that that the Jags were 2-11 when the former head coach made that statement, so the explanation for Cisco’s lack of playing time didn’t make sense, especially when you take into account that he has a bigger ceiling than starting safety Andrew Wingard.
The rookie safety will finally see more playing time now that Rayshawn Jenkins is out for the year. It shouldn’t have taken an injury to another player to see the rookie safety get on the field but he wil have three games to show what he brings to the table.
3. Jaguars player that was damaged by Urban Meyer – Laviska Shenault, WR.
Laviska Shenault Jr. got bigger and faster this past offseason. He was also seen as a candidate to have a breakout season in 2021. Nevertheless, the 2020 second-round pick hasn’t lived up to expectations. He’s on pace to finish with more catches and more yards than his rookie campaign but he’s averaging less than ten yards per reception and hasn’t found the end zone once this year.
Shehault has shown the ability to get deep. Back in Week 4, Trevor Lawrence connected with Viska for a 52-yard reception. That was arguably his best reception of the year.
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However, the coaching staff insists on having him catch passes near the line of scrimmage and generate yards after the catch. While the sophomore wide receiver has shown the ability to break tackles, the Jaguars shouldn’t exclusively use him that way.
Shenault has seen his production drop since DJ Chark Jr. got hurt in Week 4. It seems like they had no plan in place once Chark went down, as the offense has struggled to move the ball and score points since then. Things have gotten so ugly, that Tennessee Titans safety Kevin Byard laughed at Shenault when he collided with wide receiver Laquon Treadwell in Week 14.
Shenault definitely needs to play better, as he’s been credited with eight drops this season. However, there’s a good chance he would be having a better year with better coaching and a more creative game plan.
4. Jaguars player that was damaged by Urban Meyer – James Robinson, RB.
In retrospect, there were signs Urban Meyer wasn’t fully on board with running back James Robinson even though he totaled 1,414 yards from scrimmage, the most by an undrafted rookie in NFL history, last season. Back in the 2021 draft, the Jags drafted Travis Etienne 25th overall even though they had Robinson on the roster. If E-T-N hadn’t gotten hurt in the preseason, there’s a good chance he would be the team’s starting running back and Robinson would be the backup.
More recently, Meyer benched Robinson in consecutive weeks after fumbling the ball and veteran Carlos Hyde had more carries than him against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13. This was a head-scratching call, as the head coach never benched other players for making mistakes. Things got so bad that Trevor Lawrence had to ask Meyer to plug Robinson back in the game. Had the rookie passer not intervened, there’s a good chance Robinson would have stayed on the sidelines in that game.
When asked why Robinson was benched, Meyer said running backs coach Bernie Parmalee was responsible for the decision. However, he changed the story once he was fired and accepted he told the coaching staff to take him out of the game. Why the former head coach thought it was a good idea to sideline his best player and why he thought he could get away with lying about it remains unknown.
Things got back to normality against the Texans and Robinson got 18 carries for 75 yards. Based on how things played out, it’s clear Meyer didn’t want the sophomore running back on the field.
5. Jaguars player that was damaged by Urban Meyer – Trevor Lawrence, QB.
It’s not often that teams have an opportunity to select a generational talent, but the Jaguars did earlier this year and selected Trevor Lawrence with the first overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. You would think that the team’s brass had a plan in place to bring along the Clemson Tiger but it doesn’t look like that was the case.
Back in November, Jason La Canfora reported Meyer clashed with his coaching staff because they couldn’t agree on the kind of offense they wanted to run and how to develop Lawrence. Although Meyer denied he was at odds with his assistants, there’s was a clear disconnect.
Besides not knowing what kind of offense they would use, the Jaguars failed to provide Lawrence with an adequate supporting cast. Sure, the Jags had many roster holes earlier this year and they weren’t going to fill them all this offseason. Nevertheless, the team’s decision-makers could have done a better job of fortifying the offensive line and bolstering their wide receiver corps. They acquired a few pieces but they didn’t add many difference-makers this past offseason.
The offensive line hasn’t given Lawrence enough time in recent weeks and when Meyer was asked about it, he had no answers. The rookie passer has been far from perfect but you will be hard-pressed to find a signal-caller that is going to bail his team out without having much help.
Looking back, you could make a strong case the Jaguars wasted Lawrence’s first year in the NFL and that falls on Meyer’s shoulders. Had he had a better plan in place and the rookie quarterback were playing better, there’s a chance he would still be coaching in Jacksonville.