Jacksonville Jaguars: Would The Hiring Of Urban Meyer be A Mistake?

JACKSONVILLE, FL — Arguably one of the greatest — and most controversial — college football coaches of all-time, would the hiring of former Florida and Ohio State head coach, Urban Meyer be a mistake by the Jacksonville Jaguars?

Jacksonville, one of the top head coaching jobs in the NFL, thanks to owning the top overall pick in the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft, is considered by many the must-have spot thanks to being able to select projected top overall pick in former Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence.

Meyer, who has never coached in the NFL, has coached at Bowling Green, Utah, Florida and his home state and alma mater, Ohio State.

With three national titles under his belt and considered one of the most aggressive offensive-minded playcallers in football, Meyer’s spread-shotgun system dominated college football in the early 2000’s.

With the NFL beginning to slowly burrow from systems such as the Air Raid, zone-read and read-option, could someone like Meyer be a success in the NFL?

Cases can be made for Matt Rhule in Carolina and Kliff Kingsbury in Carolina and Arizona respectfully. But at the ages of 45 and 41, bout are younger, able to integrate new trends, relate to younger players better and don’t have the health history that the older 56-year-old Toledo, Ohio native has.

While Meyer may have a history of heart problems, one thing that he does have that the forementioned Rhule and Kingsbury has is a history of developing first-round quarterbacks in Alex Smith, Tim Tebow, Dwayne Haskins and would likely have the chance to develop either Lawrence of former Ohio State QB Justin Fields.

While many will point out the mixed results under Tebow and Haskins in the NFL, Smith is the proverbial front runner to win NFL Comeback Player of the Year after sustaining a potentially career-ending leg injury, and is a NFC champion from his time in San Francisco.

Meyer knows offense, knows the quarterback position, knows the ins and outs of Florida football very well, thanks to his time down in Gainesville, and would bring an immediate credibility and cache amongst fans.

While some love him for his title-winning teams at Florida, others hate him for how and why he bolted up north to the hated Big 10, and their arch-nemesis — and perennial foil — in Ohio State.

It would be hard sell and a tough PR spot for the Jaguars front office in marketing who many mockingly refer to as “Urban Cryer” in an area and region that takes their pigskin — especially SEC football — very seriously, as they never forget down in the deep South.

They never forgive easily either.

If hired by the Jaguars, Meyer will have to win early, often and a lot for those die-hard SEC homers to forgive his exit from their ranks the first time.