Things aren’t working out with Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Here are some options they could replace him with in 2022.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are off to a rough 0-4 start to the 2021 regular season. Although that’s not atypical of a team that just picked first overall in the NFL Draft, the circumstances surrounding the Jaguars right now are such that it feels like they might be in the head coaching market again in 2022.
The Jaguars’ current head coach is Urban Meyer, one of the great college coaches of the last couple of decades. Meyer found himself in hot water at Ohio State and wound up stepping down from his position there in 2018 reportedly because of a cyst in his brain that was growing and causing frequent headaches.
Before stepping down at Ohio State, Meyer had previously stepped down from the head coaching job at Florida also for health reasons.
Jaguars: 4 coaches that could replace Urban Meyer in 2022
Whether jokingly or not, many have speculated that Meyer could leave the Jaguars as he did his previous coaching jobs if a college position opens up that appeals to him.
Meyer has been in the news for a variety of reasons that most NFL coaches simply don’t get into the news for these days.
He signed Tim Tebow to play tight end.
He had winners of one-on-one drills announced at practice over a loudspeaker.
He doesn’t really give players days off.
He requires jogging between drills.
This isn’t college, but that’s all Meyer has known and while it’s understandable that he was hired because of who he is, there are things that you need to adapt at the NFL level. Things have been working fine for Matt Rhule in Carolina, but that’s neither here nor there.
Through four weeks, it doesn’t exactly feel like Meyer is the guy that’s going to put Trevor Lawrence in the best position to succeed long-term in the NFL.
Time will tell if the Jaguars agree or not.
For now, we’ll do what we do best — speculate. What coaches might the Jaguars replace Meyer with in 2022 if they or Meyer decide to move on?
Jaguars: 4 coaches that could replace Urban Meyer in 2022
1. Kellen Moore, OC, Cowboys
For the future of the Jacksonville Jaguars, is there anything more important than doing whatever it takes to invest in the success of Trevor Lawrence?
That’s meant as a rhetorical question.
There is nothing more important than that.
One of the top head coach candidates in 2022 is undoubtedly going to be Dallas Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, who has done a tremendous job in Dallas whether he’s had Dak Prescott or Andy Dalton under center.
Of course, the reason he’s going to be considered for head coaching gigs is going to be the success the Cowboys have had with him and Prescott, but Moore has quickly established himself as one of the top young play callers in football.
What will really be fascinating here?
Wouldn’t it be something if Dallas decided to let Mike McCarthy go and keep Moore themselves…
Jaguars: 4 coaches that could replace Urban Meyer in 2022
2. Joe Brady, OC, Carolina Panthers
Kellen Moore has competition for the latest NFL wunderkind offensive coordinator.
Or, if you watch Ted Lasso on Apple TV, he might be the NFL’s latest “wonder kid”.
One way or another, Joe Brady is going to be a coveted head coaching candidate very soon for the work he’s done in recent years.
Of course, as the passing game coordinator at LSU in 2019, he generated plenty of interest and was hired on by Matt Rhule to run the Carolina Panthers offense.
So far in the 2021 season, Brady is proving that he certainly is a “wonder kid” as an offensive coordinator, helping to slowly but perhaps surely revive Sam Darnold’s career after an unceremonious exit from the Jets.
Brady’s rapid ascent to possibly being an NFL head coach is not unheard of, although it would be bordering on unprecedented.
The closest possible comparison based on his experience and age might be Kliff Kingsbury but Kingsbury was at least a head coach at the college ranks.
Jaguars: 4 coaches that could replace Urban Meyer in 2022
3. Brian Daboll, OC, Buffalo Bills
One of the head coaching candidates in the 2022 circuit with an outstanding and very impressive résumé?
Brian Daboll of the Buffalo Bills.
He was a coach in the early-to-mid 2000s with the New England Patriots where he worked with Bill Belichick.
He worked in 2017 with Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide before taking a job working with Sean McDermott and the Buffalo Bills.
In Buffalo, Daboll has helped develop Josh Allen from being a top-10 pick with tremendous talent and upside to being an MVP candidate.
The Bills afforded Daboll and Allen one thing that many NFL teams don’t afford anyone these days — time.
If he were to take a head coaching gig with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Daboll would certainly be expected to take his wide variety of experiences with some of the most legendary coaches in all of football and turn the Jaguars ship around.
There might not be many other guys you’d trust with Trevor Lawrence’s long-term success based on Daboll’s work with Allen.
Jaguars: 4 coaches that could replace Urban Meyer in 2022
4. Eric Bieniemy, OC, Kansas City Chiefs
Eric Bieniemy being a head coach in the NFL is way past due, and although it seems like we say this every year, 2022 has got to be the end of the line.
Someone’s going to hire this guy, right?
It’s a bit baffling that Bieniemy hasn’t been a head coach in the NFL before.
He’s almost becoming an offensive version of what Vic Fangio was there for the longest time.
Andy Reid has watched plenty of assistants get head coaching gigs in other NFL cities in recent years and understandably so. Perhaps teams have decided that Reid has too much to do with the Chiefs’ offensive success to think Bieniemy can bring that same type of success to their franchise.
Whatever the case, it’s possible we could see a Kansas City flavor in Jacksonville next year if the Jaguars and Urban Meyer move on from each other.
Bieniemy has plenty of experience and obviously has helped in the development of the best player in the NFL right now, Patrick Mahomes.
The Jaguars have the player many believe to be the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning, so expectations are understandably high. Bieniemy’s time has come.