Will Meyer be able to regain the trust of Shad Khan and the Jaguars? The Jaguars offseason started off with the drafting of Trevor Lawrence. However, the season has not started as the team would like. The team is currently 0-4 (one of two teams left in the League winless, the other being the Lions). The parade of horribles does not end there for the Jaguars. Over the weekend, instead of heading back with his team after their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Meyer said he went to “visit his grandkids.” However, everyone knows that Meyer found himself at a bar being filmed grinding with a young woman. Amy Trask in her article for The Athletic, wrote, “I can’t recall a time in almost 30 years of working for an NFL team that a coach remained behind when the team headed home after a road loss.” According to Trask, the “Jaguars should fire Urban Meyer.”
How far can college success get you in the NFL? Should the Jaguars have known before hiring Urban Meyer that because of his past history, issues could arise again? During his time in Florida, Meyer was known for allowing players with drug and disciplinary issues to remain on the team. During his time at Ohio State, Meyer was disciplined for his handling of domestic violence allegations against one of his former assistants. Also, during his time with the Jaguars, Meyer hired Chris Doyle to be the Jaguars’ director of sport performance after Doyle was accused of making racist remarks and bullying. Doyle later resigned. The NFL also fined Meyer and the team a total of $300,000 for violating rules that limit contact during OTA’s. Meyer also subjected the team to an NFL Players Association investigation after Meyer said that a player’s vaccination status was considered when he was making his 53 man roster cuts.
How does Meyer’s boss, Shad Khan, feels about watching his coach dancing with a young girl at a bar over the weekend after his team’s road loss? In a statement released by the team, Khan said that Meyer’s behavior “last weekend was inexcusable. I appreciate Urban’s remorse, which I believe is sincere. Now, he must regain our trust and respect.” What did Urban have to say about his conduct in a press conference on Wednesday? According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and CBS Sports Jordan Dajani, “Meyer held a full team meeting and reportedly ‘expressed responsibility and remorse’ for staying in Ohio while the team went home on Thursday night. “
NFL players, coaches, and other NFL employees are all viewed as celebrities. Because these individuals are viewed as such influential individuals, the NFL instituted its Personal Conduct Policy to ensure the league was held in the best light and had a mechanism to discipline its employees when they have a lapse of judgment. According to the NFL Personal Conduct Policy, “It is a privilege to be part of the National Football League. Everyone who is part of the league must refrain from ‘conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in’ the NFL. This includes owners, coaches, players, other team employees, game officials and employees of the league office, NFL Films, NFL Network, or any other NFL business.” Meyer, as a coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, must abide by this policy. Meyers’s conduct at the bar falls into the category of conduct detrimental to the integrity and public confidence in the NFL. It will be interesting to see how the NFL disciplines Meyer, and how Khan decides to address the situation moving forward.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/04/sport/urban-meyer-retirement-ohio-state/index.html
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