Urban Meyer’s name shot through the NFL stratosphere on Sunday after an ESPN report indicated that at least two NFL franchises made initial contact about him being the next coach.
Meyer becoming an NFL coach could become a reality in the next 10 days or so, as sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports that several franchises have been released to gauge Meyer’s interest.
The news was released on a day when Jacksonville solidified as perhaps the most intriguing destination in the NFL, as the 1-14 Jaguars are set to place Trevor Lawrence de Clemson as the best choice in the NFL draft and must part ways with the coach Doug Marrone. The position of general manager is already open.
Will Meyer go to the NFL? Here’s the surest answer: Meyer is certainly not going back to college, as the college coach is in the midst of a radical change that could lead to an influx of coaches in college football exploring the NFL.
There are clear signs of Meyer’s interest in the NFL, as sources say he was intrigued enough to have researched the league through former players and friends, asked about possible employees and is learning how the front-office infrastructure works.
Meyer is an obsessive competitor and sources close to him say the NFL is intriguing because he would be able to test himself at the highest level of football. Meyer’s favorite moments as a coach were in the midst of renovations in Bowling Green and Utah, and there is a chance that an NFL job will allow him to reshape the culture of an entire organization in a similar way.
There are disadvantages, however, that would delay any notion that Meyer leaving his job on Fox TV to go to the countryside is imminent. Meyer’s health, which led him to step down from Ohio State in 2018, remains a factor. He has a congenital arachnoid cyst in his brain, which required surgery in 2014 and haunted him throughout the 2018 season, where his doubled image of pain on the side of the field still persists. Meyer also really enjoys his role as an analyst at Fox, as a move back to the sideline would mark a distinct lifestyle change and risk his legacy as one of the best coaches of his time.
How the college football coach is changing
Why would the NFL have more appeal than a job like Texas or USC? Few sports jobs promise to change as precipitously as the college football coach in the next 12 months. The absolute control that so many of these coaches coveted is now diminishing, with the transfer portal, one-time transfer exemption and rules of image and similarity of name, all changing the power of the coaches. This is not an endorsement or accusation of this change, just acknowledging the facts.
No college coach, given the truth, would say he really loves to recruit. It is a part of the work that is more tolerated and supported than appreciated. The increase in transfers and players’ freedom of movement means that not only will coaches be concerned with attracting the next recruiting class, but they will also need to remain stuck with the constant recruitment of their own players. While the benefits of the name image and likeness – the ways for athletes to profit from their name, which are expected to be legalized by the NCAA in the coming months – are scheduled to be discovered only by athletes, there is no doubt that orchestrating deals for players will become a big part of the job description for coaches and college programs.
The other aspect that coaches fear is the agents who help organize these NIL deals for players. Is the NIL agent accompanying the home visit and asking the coach about the generosity of the local concessionaire a new reality? Probably, and it won’t go down well with the old guard.
The other factor that cannot be overlooked at the intersection of these worlds is the schematic intersection between sports. The spread of offenses with running defenders has moved from the disgrace of NFL talent assessors to the heart of the league’s most successful offensives.
Will college coaches go to the NFL?
A few weeks ago, we made a list of potential college coaches who could end up in the NFL. There have been two college coaches in the past two seasons who have made the leap – then USC OC Kliff Kingsbury and Matt Rhule of Baylor. Before Kingsbury was hired in 2019, there was a four-year break from 2015-18 for the NFL to hire a college coach. (That was Bill O’Brien jumping from Penn State to the Houston Texans in 2014.)
The days of the NFL without plucking a college coach for four years are long gone. The combination of the changing nature of college work and the shallow group of NFL candidates will keep the NFL engaged in the college ranks.
“I think the reason why we will see more college students go to the NFL is that the pool of professional coaches ready to be top coaches is much smaller,” said an industry source. “Guys like Matt Campbell, Dan Mullen and Pat Fitzgerald, those types of guys will be in the mix right now.”
They will go? No one is sure. Campbell did not work in professional football one day. Mullen cannot be moved by the recent NCAA decision against him and Florida, which includes a one-year showtime penalty for recruiting violations. Fitzgerald has withstood more than half a dozen openings before. Will it be different this time? The NFL is still fascinated by Lincoln Riley, has a deep respect for David Shaw and James Franklin came close to the work of the Texans in 2014. There are many options.
We could see seven or more NFL coach vacancies open, as Detroit Lions, Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans are open and are likely to join the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. And while Meyer’s name will win the juice, other college candidates are sure to emerge.
As the college football scene continues to become more professional, the most logical step is for college coaches to simply look for professionals in the coming seasons after Kingsbury and Rhule.
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