It’s been a busy week for the Jaguars, who entered free agency with a league-high $74 million in cap space. Speaking Friday, first-year coach Urban Meyer expressed his frustration with the current state of NFL free agency, lamenting that most players sign without visiting or meeting with teams first.
“In the old days, you could bring them in and meet them, have dinner with them, you find out the football intellect, find out their character,” said Meyer, who finally made the NFL leap this offseason after spending over three decades at the collegiate level. “[The past week] was awful, and I don't believe it should be that way. Not when you're making organizational decisions. I'm not sure how that rule came about, but to me that's not good business."
Meyer, of course, is referring to the NFL’s “legal tampering” window, which allows teams to negotiate with players’ agents up to 48 hours before the official start of free agency. Most of the major signings, at least in recent years, have come during this period.
With the Machiavellian likes of Drew Rosenhaus and agents of similar clout controlling the narrative, teams are largely going into free agency blind, knowing little about players apart from what they’ve seen on film. You can understand why this would overwhelm an NFL newcomer like Meyer, who is used to a more deliberate recruiting process.
“We did a deep dive,” said Meyer, who described his hectic past few days as a “learning experience.” “Every guy that we signed, we did.”
While Meyer wasn’t able to speak directly to any of the players he brought on this week (at least before signing them), six of the 11 had previously played for coaches on Jacksonville’s staff including veteran Carlos Hyde, who played two seasons under Meyer at Ohio State.
“In recruiting we would have our recruiting meeting and identify the best players and say go get them,” said Meyer via ESPN’s Michael DiRocco. “Then all of a sudden I start finding out this guy costs $28 million.”
It’s been an eventful few months for Meyer atop the Jaguars’ chain of command, navigating the unfamiliar terrain of free agency while also having to explain for hiring Chris Doyle, who faced allegations of both racism and bullying at the University of Iowa. Amid public outcry, Doyle stepped down from his post as Jaguars director of sport performance one day after taking the job.
At least Meyer won’t have to pull his hair out worrying about the No. 1 pick. That decision was made for him as soon as Trevor Lawrence declared for the draft.
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