Running back Carlos Hyde, one of several free-agent additions for the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason, played one season of his career with the team in 2018. But with the new regime, Jacksonville now feels more like home than ever.
Hyde has a prior relationship with several people within the Jags staff, but the most obvious connection is the head coach. Urban Meyer was Hyde’s college coach at Ohio State, where he guided him to a First Team All-Big Ten selection in 2013.
Hyde said that when his contract with Seattle expired, the move he needed to make was obvious.
“It was a no-brainer for me once I saw Coach [Urban] Meyer become the head coach here,” he said. “I had good years with Coach Meyer at Ohio State and honestly, I’ve been waiting for Coach Meyer to become a head coach in the NFL… I feel like eventually, he would have made his way to the NFL. I’m happy he decided to do that now, while I’m still playing. I’m excited that he’s here now.”
Meyer has no NFL coaching experience, even as an assistant coach. But Hyde said he’s not worried about Meyer’s ability to make the transition.
“Because one thing about Coach Meyer, it’s all about winning,” Hyde said. “So, he’s just going to figure it out, how to get the wins, how to consistently get wins, how to get a lot of wins, to build a winning program here, build the right culture, get the right guys in here… When he’s not around, you know you’ve got guys here in there that he can count on that are keeping the culture alive, keeping guys bought in into the program.”
Not only is Hyde extremely familiar with Meyer and his coaching style, but with the Jaguars in 2021, he will be able to maintain some systematic continuity. His offensive coordinator from last season with the Seahawks, Brian Schottenheimer, was hired to be the Jags’ passing game coordinator.
“…it’s a good thing for me, you know a familiar face,” Hyde said. “I’m sure the offense will be familiar, I’m sure [coach Schottenheimer will] [be] adding something familiar, what we did in Seattle. But you know, it’s good to see familiar faces. Schotty has been great, he’s definitely going to help me continue to be the player I am, come in and just handle my business.”
If that weren’t enough to convince Hyde to sign with the Jags, their new general manager, Trent Baalke, held the same role with the San Francisco 49ers for Hyde’s first three years with the team from 2014-16. He’s now back with the GM that drafted him in the second round back in 2014.
“Trent [and I] had a good relationship,” he said. “I haven’t seen him in a while. We always kept in contact through somebody, there was always a middleman telling me, ‘Trent said hello,’ and I’d tell the person back, ‘Well, you tell him—.’ It’s finally good to see him though, in-person and be back around him. I had a good time with Trent also when I was in San Fran.”
When asked which of those three connections was the main catalyst behind his decision to come to Jacksonville, Hyde didn’t hesitate to answer.
“It was Coach Meyer. Coach Meyer made it all happen,” he said. “Once I saw Coach Meyer become the head coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars, I already knew where I was going.”
The 30-year-old will hope familiarity leads to success as he joins last year’s starter James Robinson in a backfield that should be one of the league’s better units in 2021.