Former Jaguars HC Urban Meyer cannot stop running his mouth

You would think that Urban Meyer would keep a low profile after crashing and burning with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021 but his addiction to attention gets him the spotlight when he chooses to share his questionable takes. Just recently, the embattled head coach equated NILs to "cheating".

Meyer recently had a sitdown with Dan Dakich of Outkick and said that in his opinion, "collective" is a fancy word for cheating.

"When I hear that word I kind of cringe right now and I hear the stories behind it that they’re going to go to donors and boosters and ask for a lot of money and then decide who gets that money based on ability level. Which, I think is 1A of the rule of NIL, you can’t do that"

While it's true that college programs with boosters who are willing to fork out immense amounts of cash benefit from NILs, categorizing them as "cheating" isn't accurate.

Previously, college players were forbidden to monetize their likeness but they can now receive money for Name Image and Likeness. This has in turn given certain programs an edge at recruiting, which is why head coaches such as Jimbo Fisher or Nick Saban aren't fond of them and are looking for stricter regulations.

Former Jaguars HC Urban Meyer might not be the best source for ethics

Of all the people who are opposed to NILs, Meyer should be the last to voice his opinion. Even before making headlines for all kinds of dubious reasons, he made several questionable decisions at the collegiate level in "the name of winning".

Although Meyer led Florida to two National Championships, he allowed a toxic culture to fester. During his stint as the head coach, there were 31 arrests and he often gave preferential treatment to certain players, which he's vehemently denied. When he was set to face the consequences, he chose to simply resign, citing his health as the main reason.

However, Meyer quickly resurfaced with Ohio State. This time, he was aware of spousal abuse allegations against wide receive coach Zach Smith but didn't do anything about it. Following the 2018 season, he once again retired due to health reasons.

After cutting ties with head coach Doug Marrone, the Jaguars hired Meyer to oversee a rebuild but he instead turned the organization into a dumpster fire. Besides winning just two games during his stint in Jacksonville, Meyer made the news for not knowing his own players, not knowing the names of opposing players, lying for no apparent reasons, his poor sportsmanship, and choosing to stay behind in Ohio after a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals to "spend time with his grandkids".

The straw that might have broken the camel's back was when Josh Lambo talked publicly about Meyer allegedly kicking him during warmups. Not long after Lambo's comments made the rounds, Meyer was given the boot. Since then, Meyer has talked about his time at the helm of the Jags but has failed to hold himself accountable for his wide array of mistakes.

Given the way he left the Jaguars, it's hard to see Meyer coaching in the NFL again and after his latest comments on NILs, he might have a hard time finding a gig at the college level too. Maybe he knows that and that's the reason he chose to mischaracterize players getting the chance to profit from their likeness as cheating.