The Jacksonville Jaguars fired coach Urban Meyer on Thursday according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter (though Shad Khan’s camp claims it happened earlier), and now Schefter is reporting that they will claim it was for cause. As a result, the Jags intend to not pay Meyer for the remainder of his contract, which was a five-year deal in total.
The report, which ESPN’s Jeff Darlington is also contributing to, claims that the Jags’ reason for withholding the guaranteed money left on the contract isn’t tied to a single incident, but multiple ones. With that being the case, the Jags believe that Meyer’s early firing was justified.
Meyer had his share of incidents while in the NFL starting with the hiring of Chris Doyle to lead the Jags strength and conditioning program, who previously dealt with allegations of racist behavior and bullying at the University of Iowa. However, when considering Khan allegedly was involved with the hiring process, it would seem that particular incident may not be one the Jags use against Meyer — if at all.
However, other situations took place afterward like Meyer getting himself and the team fined by the NFLPA for organized team activity violations. There was also an Ohio bar incident where Meyer was caught with a woman dancing on him that wasn’t his wife while touching her below the waist. A big deal was made about the situation because he didn’t fly home with his team afterward as they lost a Thursday night game against Cincinnati.
There is also an NFL Network report that has surfaced about him challenging his assistants while calling them “losers,” and arguing with players such as receivers Marvin Jones Jr., who didn’t appreciate Meyer’s criticisms of the pass-catchers.
Then, just this week, a report came out from the Tampa Bay Times where former kicker Josh Lambo came out to say Meyer kicked him and called him out of his name. Following that report, Lambo also told First Coast News that Meyer wasn’t fit to be the Jags leader and that he didn’t like how he treated other players.
As pointed out by ESPN, the Jags’ decision to claim Meyer was fired for cause could start a negotiation period by both sides to settle on a figure. This would allow the lawyers of the Jags and Meyer to meet each other in the middle (or close to it) and avoid a legal situation that drags out.