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The question the Jacksonville Jaguars should be asking is not whether Urban Meyer is worth $ 12 million a year to coach the team, as ProFootballTalk reports.
The question is whether he deserves a golden opportunity to use the Jags’ considerable current resources – four of the top 50 picks in the draft, including the No.1 overall, and some $ 81 million in draft space. salary cap – to rebuild the place on the fly.
If so, even that money doesn’t matter (Meyer is said to be one of the highest-paid coaches in the league, although well behind Bill Belichick, who is likely making over $ 20 million a year in New England).
NFL teams can still make money. They rarely have so much to gain by trying to rebuild.
Meyer is an intriguing candidate, and not just because he won three national titles at the college level, including two at nearby Florida University. That’s how he won those standout titles – creating culture and maximizing talent – because that could perfectly translate into the overhaul of the Jaguars.
There is no guarantee, of course, that Meyer will win in the NFL. The pro ranks are littered with great college coaches who couldn’t make it, including Nick Saban. And Meyer has struggled to maintain his health under the stress of college seasons, where losses are rare. How will he handle the pro world of Any Given Sunday?
However, there is never any guarantee. Belichick, Andy Reid and Pete Carroll have all been laid off at one point or another. The NFL is a meat grinder.
Meyer’s success has been the ability to create a winning, even perfectionist mindset, and then use that to attract top-level competitors who want to make the most of their talent.
You need great players to win. This is true in college and in the NFL. Meyer won with a lot of them. He also won by lifting what he inherited before he could just stack a list. He went 17-6 in two seasons at Bowling Green, then 22-2 in Utah, picking up big wins quickly.
In Florida, Meyer won a national title in sophomore, then won two more seasons after that. He “retired” for one season, reemerged at Ohio State, and went 12-0 in his first season at Columbus. Two seasons later, he led the Buckeyes to a national title. It’s a lot to win with players from other coaches.
When it came to his own recruiting, part of Meyer’s secret was his ability to identify not only extremely talented players, but also extremely talented players who were also extremely competitive. He liked the latter on almost everything.
“I don’t believe the coaches of the NFL, college or high school [realize the importance of competitiveness]Meyer said a few years ago. “And I was guilty of it for a while. You talk about his competitiveness for a while, and then you start talking about his footwork. I don’t really care about his footwork. When we coach him, we’ll come back to that. We can teach that. You cannot frame competitiveness. “
Each year he ran a recruiting camp called “Friday Night Lights”. He would get as many good high school prospects as he could find, put them all under campus stadium lights, play music, and have them fight in various drills and events.
Then he would sit down and see which guys would deliver a championship.
“[A player’s] the desire to win is without doubt the most important thing, ”he said. “I used to be in, ‘Is it a three quarter [throwing motion]? Does he have four fingers on the laces or five? I don’t care anymore.
“Is he going to choke you to win a game of checkers?” Meyer asked. “If he does that, I’ll take him.”
Does this translate to the NFL? If the Jags think so, then Meyer could be perfect.
The strengths available to the new coach and the new CEO are attractive. With the No.1 pick in the draft, Jacksonville may have Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who pro scouts have called QB’s top prospect for nearly a decade and was known at college for his competitiveness and leadership. .
Then there are three more draft picks (a first round and two seconds) which should be somewhere between the early 20s and number 47 overall. Plus all that money for free agency, with Meyer now back as a recruiter, promising a new day in Jacksonville.
While concerns about Meyer in the face of the inevitable defeat (no NFL team bounces from 1-15 overnight) will persist, the Jags are offering the kind of freedom to put their mark on the team. It’s a better choice for him than, say, Houston, who has Deshaun Watson but has nearly $ 16 million above the cap and no draft pick in the first two rounds.
If nothing else, Meyer creates excitement and confidence, which desperately needs a franchise that has always struggled to capture the imagination of his region.
The Jags have reached three respectable AFC league games in 26 seasons, but ticket sales often lag to the point where they play in London each year (and had two games originally scheduled for the 2020 season).
Meyer contributes to it. The same goes for Lawrence.
If the Jags think Urban is worthy to handle a situation the franchise can’t afford to blow up, then a few more millions a year shouldn’t matter.
He will win it.
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