The Jacksonville Jaguars reportedly found the team’s new offensive coordinator. According to NFL Network Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo, coach Urban Meyer will bring in Darrell Bevell to command the attack.
O #Jaguars should hire Darrell Bevell as their offensive coordinator, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo. Several teams tried to sign Bevell, who ended last season as the #Lions‘interim coach, but it looks like he will land with Urban Meyer.
– Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 21, 2021
Meyer said recently that he will not ask for moves, so that duty is likely to fall on Bevell, and Meyer also placed emphasis on forming an “elite” team. Bevell will be the team’s fourth offensive coordinator in the past four seasons.
“I will not be the author of the move,” Meyer said at his introductory press conference. “I have been very active in play-calling throughout my career in attack and kicking. In defense, I’m not. I will hire the best defensive coaches. I think something I did a bit decent is that I know how it should look and feel and the fundamentals, but schematically the NFL is different. “
Recently, Bevell spent time with the Detroit Lions as an offensive coordinator and, eventually, interim coach after Matt Patricia’s resignation after Thanksgiving. Under Bevell in 2020, Lions qualified right in the middle of the field in the offensive DVOA, reaching 16th, according to Football Outsiders.
Detroit ranked 20th in total yards per game (350.2), 10th in passing yards per game (256.5), 30th in running yards per game (93.7) and 20th in points scored per game (23 , 6)
Our Detroit Pride friends said the following about Bevell’s 2020 season:
Bevell left a quick impression in Detroit after taking a year off in 2018. He seemed to rekindle Matthew Stafford’s career, allowing him to launch the ball deep again. Although Stafford did not shine so brightly in 2020, Bevell again impressed by taking over as interim coach in the last five games of the season. Although Detroit went 1-4 in those games, the team was noticeably more loose and energetic on game days. Furthermore, after coach Matt Patricia left, gunslinger Matthew Stafford returned.
Prior to his time in Detroit, Bevell spent several seasons with the Seattle Seahawks from 2011 to 2017. He helped prepare Russel Wilson and was responsible for the game for a Seattle team that played five consecutive games in the playoff, two in the Super Bowl and won a Super Bowl Championship.
Of course, Bevell will always be remembered for the Super Bowl XLIX game call against the New England Patriots, when instead of giving the ball to Marshawn Lynch in the yard line with 26 seconds to go (and a timeout remaining), Bevell called a thin post from a set of two receivers (which coach Pete Carroll approved). The result was an interception by Malcolm Butler on Wilson’s pass, which sealed the Patriots’ victory. Overall, though, Bevell had a successful run with the Seahawks, and I personally don’t think that a single call play can get in the way of that.
Before moving to Seattle, Bevell served as the Minnesota Vikings’ offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2010. He also served as a Green Bay Packers quarterback coach from 2003 to 2005, and an assistant quarterback coach at Green Bay from 2000 to 2002.
In addition to his experience as a coach in the NFL, which will be valuable to Meyer in his first year in the NFL, Bevell also has experience as a college coach. He started his coaching career in 1996 at Westmar University in Iowa in 1996 as a passing game coordinator and quarterback coach. He then assumed the role of graduate assistant in Iowa in 1997 and moved to Connecticut in 1998 and 1999 as a wide receivers trainer.
Bevell played college football for Wisconsin Badgers in the 1990s and was the team’s full-back from 1992 to 1995.
Bevell will probably now have a chance to work with the number one general choice, Trevor Lawrence, in 2021.
Jacksonville also found his defensive coordinator at Joe Cullen.