Urban Meyer Reflects on the Jaguars' 2022 Run and Trevor Lawrence

A year after the disastrous tenure of Urban Meyer, the Jaguars found themselves in the playoffs and on a magical run. Then this week, Meyer weighed in on the Jaguars' year without him.

For the Jacksonville Jaguars, a year removed from Urban Meyer is exactly what the doctor ordered.

After a disastrous tenure as the Jaguars' head coach a year ago that lasted only 13 games and saw the Jaguars go 2-11, Meyer sat at home this season on Sundays as the Jaguars went 9-8, won the AFC South, and hosted and won a playoff game in Doug Pederson's first season replacing Meyer.

The Jaguars' coaches, staff members and players who worked with Meyer never forgot the damage he did in 2021, frequently mentioning it as a catalyst toward Pederson rebuilding the team's culture. Now, Meyer himself has spoken up about the Jaguars reaching new heights thanks to his departure. 

During a guest appearance on the "All Things Covered" podcast hosted by Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson and former Steelers cornerback Bryant McFadden, Meyer stated he has no desire to return to coaching, while also putting forth the most obvious statement of 2023.

"Of course, I would've done some things differently," Meyer said.

"I was excited to see because they have a lot of different players from when I was there," Meyer continued. "They did a really good job in free agency this year. But to me, it's kind of funny when you hear people say the NFL is a quarterback league — Pop Warner is a quarterback league. So is high school. It's a quarterback sport and when you get a killer like a Trevor Lawrence ... you've got a chance. So they've got a great future."

These admissions from Meyer are particularly noteworthy for a few reasons. Meyer seems to imply the Jaguars' found their success due to an improved roster, which is a fair point. 

But Meyer doesn't point out the fact that several players who played for both Meyer and Pederson had significantly better years under Pederson, including offensive tackles Cam Robinson and Jawaan Taylor, defensive linemen Roy Robertson-Harris and DaVon Hamilton, safety Rayshawn Jenkins, and more or less the entire 2021 NFL Draft class. 

Meyer also seems to imply that a large portion of the Jaguars' success was fueled by Lawrence, who was named to his first-career Pro Bowl on Tuesday.

In 17 starts in 2022, Lawrence completed 387 of 584 passes for 4,113 yards and 25 TDs. His 387 completions were the most in a single season in franchise history and his five rushing TDs were tied with Garrard for the most in single-season franchise history.

Lawrence joined Bengals QB Joe Burrow and Bills QB Josh Allen as the only players in the NFL with 25-plus passing TDs and at least five rushing TDs. Against the Titans in Week 14, Lawrence set a career high with 368 yards passing and was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.

The second-year quarterback totaled four 300-yard passing games and orchestrated three comebacks of 17-plus points, including a comeback from behind 27-0 in the postseason against the Chargers. 

Lawrence's numbers skyrocketed under Pederson, making him not just one of the most improved players in the NFL this season, but one of the most improved second-year quarterbacks in recent NFL history. 

So, yes, Lawrence had a terrific season under Pederson that helped push the Jaguars to the playoffs. But Meyer got a worse version of Lawrence for a reason: because he wasn't able to properly prepare him for the NFL in any shape, form or fashion.

"I was done," Meyer said. "I was retired. I had some health issues at Ohio State ... I got approached by a few (NFL) teams and this team really appealed to me," Meyer said. "Trevor Lawrence, who might be a Hall of Famer some day, he's that good. Obviously it didn't go well, but I had no plans of doing that at all. It just happened."