Entering the 2021 season, many in the NFL media expected Jaguars coach Urban Meyer to struggle with the adjustment from college to the pros. Jacksonville’s 37-21 loss to Houston in Week 1 seemed to confirm those priors, as many of the team’s struggles, such as illegal formation penalties and multiple instances of too many men in the huddle, can be blamed on coaching.
Denver Broncos defensive end Dre’Mont Jones, a third-round pick in 2019 who played under Meyer for five years at Ohio State, said that he isn’t surprised to see the Jaguars struggling under his former coach when speaking to the media this week.
“Going from college to pros is always difficult no matter what the level is, whether coaching or playing,” Jones said, according to Pro Football Talk. “Especially because a lot of his philosophies are college-based, and you can’t do that with 30-plus men or even 25-plus men who have been around the league and know what they’re doing now and are well established. You got to shake things up in how you coach.
“Am I surprised by it? No. I just know how he is. I’m not going to go into great detail about it, but no, it doesn’t surprise me.”
While Jones declined to go into detail here, he did elaborate on some of the issues he’s talking about back in June on an appearance on Shelby Harris’ (all of the Broncos) “Shel-Shocked” podcast.
This excerpt from that conversation is especially telling.
Here’s the text of what Jones said: pic.twitter.com/CBYnR2QDNX
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) September 16, 2021
On their face, these comments appear pretty damning of Meyer, and many expected that one of the biggest hurdles he would face is connecting with millionaire athletes who aren’t in the 18-22 age range. Based on the comments from Jones, it seems that was far from a strength of Meyer’s as a college coach.
Still, an approach like that may garner respect from young athletes. Among highly paid professionals, however, those antics would be much less welcome.
Jones isn’t in the Jaguars’ locker room, and it’s hard to tell if the issues he discussed played any role in Houston’s dismantling of Jacksonville in Week 1. But if what he says is true, Meyer definitely has some work to do in terms of earning buy-in from his team.