Urban Meyer's rough start isn't just due to the Tim Tebow debacle
This is the Morning Win, by Andy Nesbitt.
Urban Meyer hasn't coached an official NFL game yet but his time so far in the league has not been great… at all.
In fact, it's been mostly embarrassing and has the feel like this is going to be a short run for a guy who was a very good college coach but doesn't seem to have what it takes to run a team of professional athletes who get paid to do their jobs.
And this just isn't because of the joke of the Tim Tebow experiment, which came to an end yesterday - though that is a big reason of concern for just how bad Meyer could be at this level of football.
Meyer's struggles started a few months ago when he hired former Iowa strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle, who parted ways with Iowa last summer after allegations of racism and bullying toward Black players on the team were made against him.
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A day after that was brought to light, Doyle left the Jaguars, saying he didn't want to be a distraction.
That was a very bad and thoughtless hire by Meyer, one that had to have left players in the locker room wondering just what in the world was this man thinking?
And then shortly after that Meyer signed Tim Tebow to a one-year deal and tried him out at tight end. Tim Tebow! At tight end!
Everyone knew how that would go because everyone knows a 34-year-old former QB would have no shot of making a NFL team after being out of the league for nine years and never having played tight end before.
Meyer said yesterday that the locker room loved Tebow, which maybe they did on a personal level, because Tebow seems like a good guy. But they had to have been offended by the game tape that showed Tebow making two horrible blocks that left everyone on the internet laughing at Tebow and the Jaguars.
You never want to be the laughingstock of the league and the Jaguars have been just that the past couple of days and you know whose fault that is is?
Urban Meyer's.
And here's another thing that Meyer seems to be messing up - he's still refusing to say who the starting QB is going to be in Week 1. He's still saying Gardner Minshew and Trevor Lawrence are battling for job and they haven't made a decision yet on who will be the No. 1 guy.
Maybe that's just a coach not wanting to tip his hand but that wouldn't make much sense because everyone knows his hand - Lawrence has been ready to be NFL starting QB for a few years now.
Want to instill some confidence in your team? Give the keys to your offense to the No. 1 overall pick in last April's draft and tell the world you're rolling with Lawrence for good.
Meyer has struggled a great deal and we're still three weeks or so away from Week 1 of the 2021 NFL season.
It could be another rough year in Jacksonville and if it is, the blame should start with the man at the top.
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