Ex Jaguars WR DJ Chark: Urban Meyer was very misguided

Urban Meyer was the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars for less than a year but that was more than enough time to turn the team upside down. Following his dismissal, wide receiver DJ Chark Jr. pulled no punches and talked about the negative impact Meyer had on the Jags.

During a recent appearance on the St. Brown Bros podcast, Chark once again opened up about Meyer’s disastrous tenure in Jacksonville. The former LSU Tiger describes his former head coach as a good person but he doesn’t think he was cut for the NFL.

“He’s a good person, I think he wants the best out of all players”, Chark said. “I could go talk to coach Meyer about whatever I wanted to go talk to him about. He’d talk back and we’d have a conversation. I give him that. I think he was very misguided when he came to the league and coached us the way that he best know how to get the best out of us. But you can’t do that in the league”.

“I know what it’s like for me to reach a high level of success in the league already. I don’t really need the motivation from you to make me get up and work. I have kids, same with all these people, he would try to motivate us in a way that didn’t really work, professional men”.

Not long after the Jaguars canned Meyer, The Athletic posted an article about his many miscues. While many players were quoted about his shortcomings as a head coach, Chark was the only one that spoke on the record.

Chark says that he wasn’t going to hide behind words, “he deserved my respect for me to say it and put my name behind it”. Here’s a clip of the former Jaguars receiver talking about his experience playing for Meyer.

Urban Meyer had no idea of what he was doing with the Jacksonville Jaguars

This isn’t the first time Meyer’s questionable coaching methods have been brought up. Looking back, he wasn’t qualified to coach in the pros. As Chark noted, NFL players are grown men with families and kids.

Moreover, Meyer’s words didn’t match his words. While he demanded that players give their best, he would leave his assistant in charge. Similarly, he willingly chose not to travel with the team following a loss and opted to go partying instead.

When confronted about being caught partying, Meyer lied to his players, and that’s the thing. He never held himself to the same standards he had set for others or take responsibility for his actions. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s easy to see why hiring him without second guessing whether it was a good decision was a bad idea from the very beginning.

The silver lining is that the Jaguars have recovered from the Urban Meyer debacle. Not only that, they have the right head coach and the pieces in place to have sustained success for years to come.