Jacksonville Jaguars coach Urban Meyer’s apology on Monday for an intimate exchange with a woman at a bar may not be enough, according to a current player on his team and a former NFL executive.
“There are many closed-door meetings happening over the last two days in the football offices” and none of them involve the team’s next opponent, front office veteran Michael Lombardi wrote, citing two unnamed Jacksonville sources. “Stay tuned. This might get ugly.”
Lombardi later confirmed a sports lawyer’s suggestion in a tweet that executives were discussing out clauses in Meyer’s contract.
An unnamed Jaguars player told the NFL Network’s Michael Silver that Meyer had lost all credibility and that players were highly skeptical that the woman in the videos was a stranger, as Meyer claimed. “I don’t know how he’s gonna function,” the player told Silver.
Meyer apologized Monday for an embarrassing video that went viral over the weekend in which a woman appeared to grind her rear into his crotch. A second clip from another damning angle emerged later, showing Meyer touching her in a sensitive area.
“I just apologized to the team for being a distraction,” Meyer said, per USA Today. “It’s stupid. I explained everything that happened and I should not have put myself in that position.”
Meyer, who is married, conceded that his family was “upset” about the recordings.
Meyer took the uncustomary step of traveling back to Florida separately from the team after the Jaguars lost at Cincinnati, saying he wanted to hang out with his grandchildren. Meyer once coached at Ohio State and has roots in the state.
“There was a big group next to the restaurant,” Meyer explained, per the Score. “They wanted me to come over and take pictures, and I did. (They) tried to pull me out on the dance floor, screwing around, but I should’ve left.”
Meyer said Jaguars owner Shad Khan was “very supportive.” But on Tuesday, Khan called Meyer’s conduct “inexcusable” in a statement.
Meyer may not get much slack. His team is 0-4 in his first season. And his top draft pick, Trevor Lawrence, is struggling.