The Jacksonville Jaguars named Doug Pederson their new head coach in early February, but the organization is still struggling to escape its past under the leadership of Urban Meyer, its head coach in 2021.
More details on the organization’s roller coaster ride with Meyer surfaced courtesy of The Athletic’s Jayson Jenks and Mike Sando, who revealed additional incidents that occurred last season in a story released Monday.
Jags fans will remember previously reported incidents like Meyer’s verbal altercation with veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. after Meyer criticized the receivers group. There was also the head-scratching game during which Meyer benched running back James Robinson, and the now infamous incident with placekicker Josh Lambo, whom Meyer was accused of kicking.
But Jenks’ and Sando’s article shed more light on Meyer’s outbursts and went into further detail about some of the things Meyer allegedly said to players while he was their head coach.
The pair detailed one threatening and demeaning exchange that dated back to the preseason. Meyer reportedly tried to intimidate several players when one of the players within the group missed an assignment in a game. He was said to have made matters even worse by insinuating that the players were capable of little more than playing football, which caused at least one anonymous player to “lose all respect” for Meyer.
“And do you know what would happen if I cut you guys?” Meyer said, according to various people in the room. “You couldn’t get a job paying more than $15 an hour.”
The report also alleged that Meyer made an offensive statement to quarterback Trevor Lawrence and receiver John Brown after Brown ran the wrong route during a practice rep.
“Hey, Trevor, you’ve got to slow it down for him,” Meyer said, according to sources of The Athletic. “These boys from the South, their transcripts ain’t right.”
The list of transgressions goes on: Meyer allegedly berated a player to the point of tears, then left the room and slammed the door while other players consoled the player. That led to a coach on the staff confronting Meyer in what was described as an “intense exchange.”
Former receiver DJ Chark Jr., who shared information for the article, added that verbal exchanges like those were Meyer’s way of motivating players. But, as it became apparent, it only made the environment more dysfunctional, eventually leading to the first-year NFL coach being dismissed.
“He feels like threats are what motivates,” Chark said. “I know he would come up to us and tell us if the receivers weren’t doing good, he wasn’t going to fire us, he was going to fire our coach. He would usually say that when the coach was around.”
Many around the league have speculated that previously reported incidents may have only scratched the surface of the abysmal work culture during the organization’s last season. Given the content of the reports, it’s no surprise the Jaguars would choose to go in a new direction when conducting its head coaching search earlier this year. With Pederson’s experience and demeanor, fans are hopeful that at the very least, he’ll bring a change in the atmosphere of the locker room.