On Thursday morning, the Jacksonville Jaguars officially fired Urban Meyer. The following day, Meyer sat down with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport for an exclusive interview.
In this interview, Meyer opened up about his time in Jacksonville and all the reports that have surfaced over the past few months. But first, he wanted to apologize to the fans for not being able to take the team to the next level.
“I just apologize to Jacksonville,” Meyer said, via NFL.com. “I love Jacksonville. It’s one of the reasons I took the job. I still think Shad’s a great owner. It’s heart-breaking. I just had a dream of it becoming a destination place with a new facility he agreed to build and some day to walk into that stadium where it’s standing room only. Because I know how bad the people of Jacksonville want it. So, I’m just heartbroken that we weren’t able to do that. I still believe it’s going to be done. It’s too good of a place.”
Meyer also addressed his bizarre handshake with Mike Vrabel. He claims it was such a brief exchange because losing “eats at his soul.”
“Someone asked me about Vrabel’s [handshake], we’re really close,” Meyer added. “That had nothing to do with him. That’s probably one of my issues why I’ve thought some of the things I said: I can’t take losing. I try to accept it, it just eats away at my soul. And I believe our players deserve better.”
Exclusive: Former #Jaguars coach Urban Meyer speaks for the first time since getting fired, describing his dismissal to me as “devastating” and “heart-breaking.”
More from our 20+ minute conversation: https://t.co/DNrxliZCip
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 18, 2021
Meyer dismissed the notion that he had a bad relationship with second-year running back James Robinson. He also denied the report about his altercation with former Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo.
As for what’s next, Meyer revealed that he has not heard from anyone about a possible coaching job.
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