Just when you thought you’d heard every bad thing about Urban Meyer’s brief stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars, along comes more stories that confirm what a terrible fit he was for the NFL.
Monday, The Athletic released a story about Meyer’s tenure that included some new details about how backward his coaching stint was, including reports about threatening to fire players and coaches, criticizing the importance of scouts while they were present, and being totally unfamiliar with some of the biggest names in the NFL such as Aaron Donald, Deebo Samuel, and Jamal Adams.
The article was just one more reason for fans and NFL folks to rip into owner Shad Khan over hiring the clearly out-of-his-depth Meyer in the first place.
However, it also provided them with the opportunity to have some fun with one aspect of Urban’s reign. The idea that Meyer didn’t know many of the league’s top players helped to recontextualize one piece of information. There were quite a few jokes on social media following the report about how it appears the one NFL player that Urban did actually know the name of was Tim Tebow, which is why he invited him to training camp.
Players I am sure Urban Meyer has heard of:
Tim Tebow.
That’s the list.
— Nora Princiotti (@NoraPrinciotti) March 21, 2022
Urban Meyer trying to name any NFL players besides Tim Tebow pic.twitter.com/Ra3aMWINKP
— Bengals Aaron 🐅 (@BengalsAaron) March 21, 2022
The Tebow signing makes more sense when you realize Urban couldn't name any other player to sign.
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) March 21, 2022
[Last spring]
TRENT BAALKE: Any free agents you have your eye on that we could bring in?
URBAN MEYER (realizing he doesn't know any NFL players' names): Uh, yeah. Uh, Tim. Tim Tebow. pic.twitter.com/PRI2tlg1ft
— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) March 21, 2022
“Tim Tebow!” https://t.co/5d9TDnkVaC
— Lindsay Jones (@bylindsayhjones) March 21, 2022
It didn’t work out for Tebow and it certainly didn’t work out for Meyer, who is now back in Columbus, Ohio where he’s still beloved. While he’ll almost certainly never coach in the NFL again, if any owner ever considers it for some reason, they better give him a test on current NFL players before paying him millions of dollars.