Urban Meyer will be watched closely in his first NFL season with the Jacksonville Jaguars, and it sounds like the college coaching legend has already run into some problems while making the leap.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported on Sunday that there is pessimism around the NFL about Meyer’s ability to adjust to coaching at the professional level. The 57-year-old is said to have had “repeated issues” with members of his coaching staff and Jaguars players this summer. One of the problems has been the reported disconnect between members of Meyer’s staff that have NFL experience and those who don’t.
“He has everyone looking over their shoulders already,” one source told La Canfora. “He becomes unhinged way too easily, and he doesn’t know how to handle losing, even in the preseason. He loses it and wants to take over the drills himself. It’s not good.”
Meyer apparently wanted to treat preseason games more like regular season games, and he even admonished his staff over preseason losses. Some coaches were given the impression that their jobs are not secure because of the team’s performance in meaningless games.
Meyer lost a total of 32 games in 17 seasons as a college head coach. He lost just nine in his seven years at Ohio State. Learning how to lose will be his biggest challenge in the NFL, and that is something he acknowledged right after taking the Jaguars job.
It didn’t take long before people started making the same joke about Meyer when the Jaguars struggled during the preseason. Of course, it was the preseason. Meyer will be judged based on how Jacksonville does in games that matter. He’s not expected to lead the team to the playoffs immediately, but he may need to work through some in-house issues in his first year.
Urban Meyer made some candid remarks about roster cuts this week that led to the NFL Players Association opening an investigation, and the Jacksonville Jaguars have now responded to the controversy.
Meyer told reporters on Tuesday that everything was considered when deciding which players to keep on the 53-man roster. He said that process included “is he vaccinated or not?” and that vaccination status was “certainly in consideration.”
On Wednesday, the Jaguars released a statement that insisted no player was released based on vaccination status alone. However, the team admitted that “availability is one of the many factors taken into account when making roster decisions.” You can read the full statement below:
You can interpret that any way you want. While it’s likely true that no player was cut strictly due to vaccination status, all teams have to take it into consideration. The NFL has much stricter protocols for unvaccinated players compared to vaccinated players. Unvaccinated players have restrictions related to more frequent testing, mask-wearing, meal-eating, and more.
Does that mean Trevor Lawrence would have been cut if he were not vaccinated? Of course not, but it was reportedly a factor in at least one notable player’s release.
The NFLPA could be angling for a discrimination lawsuit, but they knew the implications the vaccine-related protocols would have when they agreed to them.
Urban Meyer may have been too honest with the media on Tuesday.
Meyer spoke with reporters about the Jacksonville Jaguars’ moves on roster cutdown day. He said that they took a player’s vaccination status into consideration when making decisions.
“Everyone was considered,” Meyer said. “That was part of the [considerations such as] production, let’s start talking about this, and also is he vaccinated or not? Can I say that that was a decision maker? It was certainly in consideration.”
Perhaps Meyer should not have said that.
The NFLPA said on Tuesday that they are investigating the comments.
The NFL has much stricter protocol for unvaccinated players compared to vaccinated players. Unvaccinated players have restrictions related to more frequent testing, mask-wearing, meal-eating, and more. The vaccination status of one notable player reportedly was a factor in his release too.
The word has been going on for a while that unvaccinated players were at a disadvantage. Whether someone admitting on record that vaccinations were a factor leads to repercussions remains to be seen. It seems like a discrimination lawsuit could be in play, but the NFLPA agreed to the vaccine-related restrictions this year.
Starting games as a rookie quarterback in the NFL is one of the most challenging things to do in sports, and the Jacksonville Jaguars will soon learn if Trevor Lawrence is up to the task. Head coach Urban Meyer has no problem acknowledging that the situation is delicate.
Prior to his team’s exhibition game against the Dallas Cowboys, Meyer was asked about the risk of starting a rookie quarterback. He gave a candid response.
All rookies experience growing pains, and they tend to be more exaggerated with quarterbacks. There have been countless times where rookie QBs struggle and never seem to get their confidence back. Lawrence has all the makings of an NFL franchise cornerstone, but Meyer is right that the Jaguars still have to put him in positions to succeed.
Lawrence turned in his best performance of the preseason on Sunday, as he completed 11-of-12 passes for 139 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. One throw in particular on Jacksonville’s first drive (video here) had to have Jags fans dreaming of making deep playoff runs.
Like with any other rookie, Lawrence’s performance this season will depend upon how quickly he can bounce back from his mistakes.
Trevor Lawrence was formally named the Jacksonville Jaguars’ starting quarterback this week, and a throw he made during Sunday’s preseason game was a good illustration of how he landed the job.
Lawrence went 3-for-3 for 62 yards and a touchdown on Jacksonville’s opening drive against the Dallas Cowboys. The drive also featured his best throw of the preseason, which was an absolute dime down the sideline to Phillip Dorsett.
That is the definition of an “NFL throw.” Those are the types of throws that made Lawrence a consensus No. 1 overall pick. If the Jaguars can fix some of the offensive line problems they have been having, we should see plenty more plays like that from Lawrence in his rookie season.
After losing out on the team’s starting quarterback job, Gardner Minshew is on his way out of Jacksonville.
As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Jaguars have traded Minshew to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for a conditional sixth-round pick.
Minshew’s situation doesn’t change that much, as he’ll essentially be backing up a young quarterback in Philadelphia as well. Jalen Hurts has been impressive during camp, so Minshew will be a backup and insurance policy for the Eagles along with Joe Flacco.
Minshew, who made famously clear that he wants to be an NFL starter again, has put together a respectable career when given the chance to play. In two seasons with the Jaguars, he threw 37 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions in 23 total games.
Urban Meyer insisted all offseason that the Jacksonville Jaguars would hold an open competition for their starting quarterback job, but the head coach has finally made a formal decision.
Meyer told reporters on Wednesday that Trevor Lawrence will start against the Houston Texans in Week 1. The Jaguars followed with a tweet hyping up the No. 1 overall pick.
Unless Lawrence got injured, there was virtually no way he was going to lose the so-called open competition. The Jaguars drafted Lawrence with the intention of having him start immediately, and that is what the former Clemson star is going to do.
Gardner Minshew had a hilarious comment this offseason about how he was not going to go down without a fight, but he will begin the season as Lawrence’s primary backup. Meyer hinted earlier this month that the Jaguars may not be all that patient with Lawrence if he struggles. That, too, is likely lip service. As long as he’s healthy, Lawrence is highly unlikely to lose his starting job this season.
Travis Etienne was expected to play a significant role for the Jacksonville Jaguars in his rookie season this year, but he will now have to wait until 2022 to make an impact in the NFL.
Etienne left Monday night’s preseason game against the New Orleans Saints with a foot injury. He underwent tests on Tuesday, and an MRI revealed that he suffered a significant tear. He is expected to miss the entire 2021 season, according to multiple reports.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network was told the injury will require a 12-week recovery period at minimum. If all goes well, there is an outside chance Etienne could return later in the year.
The Jaguars used the 25th overall pick in the draft on Etienne after selecting his former Clemson teammate, Trevor Lawrence, first overall.
With Etienne out, James Robinson will likely be in line for more carries. The former undrafted free agent rushed for 1,070 yards and seven touchdowns last season and averaged an impressive 4.5 yards per carry. He also caught 49 passes for 344 yards and three scores.
Many TV personalities are in a race to scream the loudest and express the hottest of takes. That’s how you end up with analysts on ESPN already calling for peoples’ jobs after two preseason games.
Dan Orlovsky, a former quarterback who is now an analyst with ESPN, thinks Urban Meyer should be prepared to fire his offensive coordinator after fewer than two preseason games.
Check out what Orlovsky tweeted during the “Monday Night Football” game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints.
You got that? Not even after the game was completed, Orlovsky was saying Meyer needs to think about firing offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. It’s week 2 of the preseason. That’s just crazy.
The Jags did not look good. Their quarterbacks weren’t delivering behind a leaky offensive line. But let’s not forget something Orlovsky seems to be forgetting: IT’S THE PRESEASON! Yes, these games are meaningless. You can’t call for a coordinator’s job based on their preseason game plans. Meyer openly grumbled about having to hold back in the preseason.
Remember that the 2008 Detroit Lions went 4-0 in the preseason. Then they went 0-16 in the regular season. It was in the preseason that Ryan Leaf outplayed Peyton Manning.
You just don’t make decisive judgments like that based on the preseason.
Now, if the Jags look terrible through two months and their offense stinks, you can say those things about Bevell. but you have to at least see what they look like in the regular season first. It’s just an unfair criticism and foolish to call for someone’s job when part of the job is to not show their best stuff.
While the conventional wisdom is that Trevor Lawrence will ultimately start at quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the decision hasn’t been officially made yet by coach Urban Meyer. On Friday, Meyer did offer up a possible timetable for when that might become official.
Meyer said he “could” wait until after the team’s third preseason game to name a starter, but also made clear it would be his preference to make a decision before that point.
Based on that timeline, we should know by next Sunday whether Lawrence or Gardner Minshew will be starting for Jacksonville in Week 1 of the regular season.
Lawrence clearly has the leg up, but Minshew has made it hilariously clear that he won’t back down from trying to win the job. Meyer has also offered an interesting hint regarding what he’ll be looking at when making his choice.
