Plenty of very successful college coaches have jumped to the NFL and struggled to replicate their previous success. There are definitely some people who believe Urban Meyer will be one of them.
Meyer accepted the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching job on Thursday, setting him up for his first jump to professional football. There’s no way of knowing how successful Meyer will be at this level, but there’s one stat that could bode well: the number of Meyer-coached players who are still playing in the NFL.
#Jaguars coach Urban Meyer is new to the NFL, but not new to players in the NFL. Per @NFLResearch, 57 players — basically an entire active roster — played a game under Urban Meyer in college and played in an NFL game in 2020. That’s a lot.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 16, 2021
That is essentially a full roster, even if the position outlay is likely imbalanced. This may not necessarily be an indication of anything, but it does show that Meyer players are prepared enough for the next level that they succeed and last when they get there. Florida and Ohio State both churned out loads of NFL players while he was there.
Ultimately, Meyer’s success or failure as an NFL head coach may be largely dependent on how this potential relationship develops.
