Urban Meyer may still be the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, but many close to the organization believe he has done irreparable damage and that the franchise will have no choice to move on from him at the end of the season, according to Audacy NFL insider Jason La Canfora.
The myriad of issues that have popped up since Meyer’s arrival, punctuated with the latest drama from last week, has reportedly resulted in Meyer losing complete confidence in the locker room.
“He’s not coming back from this,” a source close to several players told La Canfora. “There wasn’t much confidence in him in that locker room before this went down. Now? It’s over. Guys are laughing at him. He’s lost any respect he may have had. They think he quit on them.”
Meyer’s issues with the Jaguars have ranged from his inability to connect with the players and alienating coaches — resulting in low morale this preseason — to struggling to adapt to the NFL game, resulting in an 0-4 start.
But the latest incident, in which he did not fly back with the team after a game against the Bengals and stayed in Ohio only to be seen on social media acting inappropriately with a woman who was not his wife, appears to have been the final straw.
Per La Canfora’s sources, Meyer’s decision to stay in Ohio when the team was in crisis has been viewed as a betrayal and his decision to implore his assistant coaches to speak with players about the situation on Monday was not taken well.
“It was pretty gutless,” a staff member told a confidant, per La Canfora. “He put [the assistant coaches] in a terrible situation.”
When Meyer finally did address the team, his words were seen as hypocritical and players did not take him seriously.
“You can’t make morality a central theme of your leadership message, and then do this,” an agent for a Jagaurs starter told La Canfora. “It undermines everything. You can’t be holier than thou and do as I say and then do this. You don’t get up from something like this. These players see right through him. I can’t believe they didn’t fire him.”
Another agent for a player added: “He is a laughingstock in that locker room right now. [My client] said he’s a con man. They think he’s a fraud. How do you not fly home with your team?”
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