JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer knew that a free agency would be different from recruiting, but he wasn’t really prepared for one of the most glaring discrepancies: hiring guys without meeting them.
Teams may contact players’ agents who will become free agents only during the two-day period before the official start of the league year. Because that’s when most deals are closed, Meyer was putting his team together without any contact – and he hated that.
“Yes, that was awful,” said Meyer on Friday morning. “I don’t agree with that, but nobody asked my opinion. I think that in the old days you could bring them and meet them, have dinner with them, you discover the intellect of football, you discover their character. The thing you don’t [do], I found out, is calling someone who has skin in the game because you won’t be able to do it – I don’t think being honest is very appropriate. So, we took a deep dive. Every guy we sign, we sign. …
“To answer your question, it was awful, and I don’t think it should be that way. Not when you’re making organizational decisions. I’m not sure how that rule came about, but for me this is not a good deal.”
Meyer was one of the best recruiters in the country while in Florida and Ohio. Since ESPN started monitoring autograph classes in 2006, Meyer has never signed a class below seventh place. He signed the highest-ranked class twice and finished second three times. He never hired a recruit he didn’t speak to before the signing day.
This was not the case with any of the 11 free agents that the Jaguars signed. Running back Carlos Hyde, who agreed with the Jaguars on Monday, played for Meyer at Ohio State, so he knew him, but Meyer was unable to speak to him until the start of the new league year, at 4 pm ET on Wednesday market.
Fortunately for Meyer’s peace of mind, his technical assistants had some connection with six of the 11 players, including recipients Marvin Jones Jr. and Phillip Dorsett and cornerback Shaquill Griffin. But no one on the team had any connection with defensive tackle Roy Robertson-Harris, kickback Jamal Agnew, safety Rudy Ford, tight end Chris Manhertz or safety Rayshawn Jenkins.
But Meyer had the help of former UF receiver Louis Murphy, who defended Griffin and Jenkins. Murphy, whom Meyer said he could join, is from St. Petersburg, Florida, where Griffin and Jenkins played football at school.
“He helped me with these guys, what kind of players they are, what kind of people,” said Meyer. “He feels very strong about the quality of football in the St. Pete area, obviously, so he was a cheerleader more than anything, but he helped.”
The Jaguars did not hit one of their main targets – defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson, who signed with Minnesota – and despite having more money to spend on a free agency, the Jaguars did not spend a lot of money on multiple players. Griffin signed a three-year contract averaging $ 13.33 million annually and includes a guaranteed $ 29 million, but the next highest-paid player was Jenkins. He signed a four-year contract with an average of $ 8.75 million annually and included a guaranteed $ 16 million.
This was partly due to the fact that Meyer and general manager Trent Baalke felt that the cast needed to be strengthened in several places and that the money was better spent being distributed.
“In recruiting, we would have our recruiting meeting and identify the best players and say go get them,” said Meyer. “And suddenly, I started to find out that this guy cost $ 28 million and it cost … I knew, to say I didn’t know, of course I did, but the way you put that Puzzles together over here is yours space limit, here are your choices, we can take you, but we have three of these guys to help. And so I imagine that once you build your list exactly the way you want it, you can take a guy and go get that $ 25 million athlete.
“We are not in a position to do that now. We just are not. So it was a learning experience and I feel very good about it.”