Why Urban Meyer’s NFL transition could actually work in Jacksonville

Urban Meyer has the chance to buck the trend of college coaches making a failed transition to the NFL.

The NFL coaching carousel had seven teams in need of a new sidelines boss, and the most lucrative job on the market was with the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the team did interview candidates such as Robert Saleh, Eric Bieniemy and Arthur Smith, owner Shad Khan had one man in mind for the job, and that was Urban Meyer.

The former college head coach had been on the sidelines since the conclusion of his tenure with Ohio State but was courted by team owner Shad Khan for the past year. Even with Meyer considering interviewing with the Los Angeles Chargers, the Jaguars pounced both figuratively and literally.

On Thursday evening, the Jaguars officially announced that they’ve hired Meyer to be their sixth head coach in franchise history. While many will look at previous coaches from the collegiate level fail to successfully make the leap to the pros, Meyer is in pretty good position to buck the trend.

Jaguars’ cap space and draft capital works in Meyer’s favor

It’s no secret that the Jaguars haven’t had much success following their improbable run to the AFC Championship Game in 2017. They’ve had a combined record of 12-36 since that season and parted ways with star players like Jalen Ramsey, Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngakoue. With head coach Doug Marrone and Dave Caldwell out of the picture, this is now Meyer’s team.

The Jaguars don’t have a star-studded roster like the ones he recruited with Florida and Ohio State, but he does have some building blocks. Jacksonville has young budding stars in Josh Allen, K’Lavon Chaisson, C.J. Henderson, Myles Jack and DJ Chark that Meyer can work with. But the true treasures Meyer will have at his disposal are draft capital and cap space.

At the start of the 2021 league year, the Jaguars will have approximately $73 million in available money to spend. While that’s great and all, perhaps the best thing going for Meyer is that he’ll have 11 picks in the upcoming NFL Draft, two of which will be in the first round and one of those sits at first overall. Obviously, the first pick will be used on Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who is projected by many to be the best signal caller prospect since Andrew Luck declared for the draft back in 2011. Not a bad start for Meyer, as he’ll get his quarterback for the foreseeable future instantaneously.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Meyer will have to deal with his growing pains at the NFL level. As mentioned earlier, he’s not coaching the Buckeyes or Gators anymore. He’s in charge of a rebuilding Jaguars team that’s going to lose quite often next season. That, and he’ll have to assemble the right coaching staff consisting of individuals who aren’t under contract with an NFL team.

Meyer is unlikely to go down a similar path as the likes of Nick Saban or Steve Spurrier during their short stints in the NFL, but he definitely has all the tools to be successful.