JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer knew the free agency would be different from recruiting, but he wasn’t really ready for one of the most obvious discrepancies: signing boys without meeting them.
Teams are allowed to contact players’ agents who will become free agents only within two days before the official start of the league year. Because that’s when most transactions end, Meyer built his team without any contact – and he hated it.
“Yes, it was awful,” Meyer said Friday morning. “I don’t agree with that, but nobody asked me for my opinion. I guess in the past you could bring them and meet them, have dinner with them, find out the football intellect, find out their character. [do], I found out, call someone who has their skin in play because they won’t do it at all – I honestly don’t see it as a very appropriate thing [word]. So I did a deep dive. Every guy I signed, I did. …
“To answer your question, it was awful and I don’t think it should be. Not when you make organizational decisions. I’m not sure how that rule came about, but for me that’s not a good deal. “
Meyer was one of the best recruiters in the country while in Florida and Ohio. Since ESPN began taking signing courses in 2006, Meyer has never signed a class that ranked below seventh. He signed the top class twice and finished second three more times. He never signed a recruit he didn’t talk to even before the day of signing.
This was not the case with any of the 11 free agents signed by the Jaguars. Carlos Hyde, who agreed with the Jaguars on Monday, played for Meyer at Ohio State, so he met him, but Meyer could not speak to him until after the new league year began at 4:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Fortunately for Meyer’s peace of mind, his assistant coaches had a connection with six of the 11 players, including receivers Marvin Jones Jr. and Phillip Dorsett and defender Shaquill Griffin. But no one on the team had anything to do with defensive attack Roy Robertson-Harris, Jamal Agnew, certainly Rudy Ford, Chris Manhertz or Rayshawn Jenkins.
But Meyer received help from former UF receiver Louis Murphy, who guaranteed for Griffin and Jenkins. Murphy, who Meyer said could join the staff, is from St. Petersburg, Florida, where Griffin and Jenkins played high school football.
“He helped me with these guys, exactly what kind of players they are, what kind of people,” Meyer said. “She feels very strong in terms of the quality of football in the St. Pete area, obviously, so she was a cheerleader more than anything, but she helped.”
The Jaguars have not landed one of their main targets – defensive striker Dalvin Tomlinson, who signed with Minnesota – and despite having the most money to spend in the free agency, the Jaguars have not spent much money on more players. Griffin earned a three-year deal, averaging $ 13.33 million annually and includes $ 29 million guaranteed, but the next highest paid player was Jenkins. He signed a four-year deal, averaging $ 8.75 million annually and a $ 16 million guarantee.
This was partly due to the fact that Meyer and CEO Trent Baalke felt that the list needed to be strengthened in several places and that the money was better spent to be spread.
“In recruiting, we would have our recruiting meeting and we would identify the best players and say you were going to take them,” Meyer said. “And all of a sudden, I start to find out that this guy cost $ 28 million and that this guy costs … I knew, I’d say I didn’t know, of course I knew, but just like you say this puzzle together about here is your cover space, here are your choices, we can take it, but we have three of these guys to help you. And so I imagine that once you build your list exactly the way you want, then you can take one guy and go get that $ 25 million athlete.
“We’re not in a position to do that right now. We’re not. So it’s been a learning experience and I feel great about it.”