First-year Jaguars coach Urban Meyer has once again found himself at the center of the NFL news cycle. This time, it’s not the result of a viral bar video but rather a report from NFL Network’s Tom Peliserro that sheds light on Meyer’s increasingly strained relationship with both his staff and players.
Among the most damning aspects of that piece — the details of which have been confirmed by some on the local beat — Peliserro reports that Meyer had a verbal altercation with one of the team’s veteran leaders in receiver Marvin Jones Jr. He also reports that Meyer berated his assistant coaches during a staff meeting, calling himself a winner while they were losers and forcing each staff member to publicly defend their pedigrees. He also apparently ordered the benching of star running back James Robinson after his early fumble last week, contrary to Meyer’s public statements on the matter, where he placed the blame on running backs coach Bernie Parmelee.
It’s been a bad look for the 2-10 team to say the least, and it has renewed discussions about whether Meyer will be retained as head coach in 2022. However, per NFL insider Jay Glazer on FOX NFL Sunday, who spoke to Meyer, the national championship-winning coach believes he still has institutional support.
“It was reported this week that he got into it with Marvin Jones, that part he denies,” Glazer said.
However, Meyer apparently didn’t deny that the incident in the staff meeting occurred as described.
“He didn’t deny that part,” Glazer added, referring to the bizarre moment with his staff. “He said, ‘Yes, I’m hard on my coaches, I get on them,’ but he still thinks he has the full support of ownership.”
The Lions were hit hard this week with positive COVID-19 tests, how many players will be out today? Also, what is the latest with Urban Meyer and the Jaguars? @JayGlazer breaks it all down: pic.twitter.com/yDawZcd3mi
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) December 12, 2021
Whether Meyer actually has the full support of owner Shad Khan remains to be seen, but there’s reason to believe that Khan would not make a change before the end of the season, at the very least. He’s notoriously patient with head coaches, as Gus Bradley was allowed to coach four seasons despite never winning more than five games and Doug Marrone stayed on for three more losing seasons after the team’s AFC Championship run in 2017.
But this team is struggling on the field, and one has to think with Meyer’s continued antics, he’s running out of grace off the field.
