Urban Meyer is about to embark on a challenging endeavor in Jacksonville.
Not only is the former Florida and Ohio State coach attempting to rebuild the Jaguars, but he’s also trying to jump from star college coach to successful NFL boss.
It’s a leap that’s felled the likes of Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier in the past. It hasn’t been executed with elite success since Jimmy Johnson built the Cowboys Super Bowl squads nearly 30 years ago.
As he gets to work in the pros, Meyer actually counts Johnson and Patriots head coach Bill Belichick as resources for his challenging new job. Saying there is “zero chance” that he flames out the way Saban did over two seasons with the Dolphins (2005-05), Meyer recalled to Football Morning In America’s Peter King how past offseason trips to Foxborough to observe Belichick’s Patriots helped prepare him for his tough new job.
“I got something every time I visited the Patriots,” he said of watching then-New England QB Tom Brady work top the list of takeaways. “I got to witness Tom Brady first-hand and it was the last day of a mini camp in June. I had been to a few of those and usually people had one foot out the door. They just got done with a very long, seven/eight weeks in the offseason. You’re talking about the greatest quarterback of all time. Mike Vrabel was there. Tedy Bruschi was there. I was blown away.
“The last day of mini-camp, they’re in shorts, helmets, and they’re doing a two-minute drill. And Tom Brady is treating it like it’s the Super Bowl. He goes down and he scores with two seconds left to win that scrimmage. Ran around the field like a child—that’s how competitive he is. I went back immediately to my quarterbacks and shared with them that I just watched the greatest of all time, and the way you’re supposed to practice, the way you’re supposed to provide energy to the rest of your team and the way you lead your team. I was blown away at Tom Brady and the way he performed at practice. And the way I went into the offensive meetings with Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady and Tom Brady’s actually the one who had the clicker in his hand. It was amazing. He was in there running the film. He had the offensive line sitting there, running backs, receivers, and Tom Brady was running the clicker and watching practice film, dissecting the plays with the offense. Think about that for a minute. You can say he throws a great pass. But people that really understand the game—there’s much more than that that makes him the best of all time.”
Meyer also notes the importance of culture in any football program, certainly the one that built a dynasty over two decades of Super Bowl success in New England.
“I asked that same question to [Belichick] many, many times,” Meyer said of the importance of culture in the NFL. “It came back to me and that’s why I’m such a believer in culture. Culture survives. Culture survives injuries to players, transitions to players, transition of staff. Coach Belichick’s the best I’ve ever witnessed at it. There’s a Patriot way and a Patriot culture there. It’s not for everybody. Matter of fact, I’ve heard them criticized, too. That’s fine. That’s his way of doing it. My Utah days and Florida days, I like to think that’s what made us sustainable all the years.
“The thing that made the Patriots so strong is the culture that Bill Belichick and Mr. [Robert] Kraft built in that organization.”
It didn’t hurt to have the star quarterback, Brady, something Meyer hopes he’ll land with the presumed selection of Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence with the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s draft.
“Part of that culture,” Meyer concluded to FMIA.
