Jaguars Player Claims Urban Meyer Threatened To Cut Him For Calling Him A 'Rookie' Coach

Jaguars player Andrew Wingard allegedly had an absurd exchange with former coach Urban Meyer.

Meyer didn't last a full season with the Jaguars, and his time in the NFL was an absolute disaster. He took over one of the worst franchises in the NFL with a rookie QB in Trevor Lawrence, and it became immediately clear Meyer wasn't a fit for the NFL.

The legendary Ohio State coach was fired after going 2-11. Ever since his time with the Jags, there has been a steady stream of interesting and wild stories about his tenure in Jacksonville. Well, there's a new story you can add to the list.

Urban Meyer didn't last a full season in the NFL. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

Andrew Wingard claims Urban Meyer threatened to cut him over "rookie" comment.

Wingard told Tyler Dunne that Meyer threatened to cut him because he claimed he was a "rookie" coach. The context?

The Jaguars had just lost to the Seahawks by 24 points, and Wingard felt the team having a rookie QB and rookie NFL coach meant it was on the defense to pick up the slack.

Meyer found out and allegedly used a position coach's phone to call Wingard and threaten to cut him.

Urban Meyer's time in the NFL was a complete disaster. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

"He says, ‘Dewey, why the hell did you call me a rookie head coach? Tell me why. If it was anybody else right now, you’d already be cut.' Explain yourself to me is essentially what he said. So I had to freaking save face and tell him how much I love him and how he’s the greatest coach ever. … You’re sitting there on your off-night chilling and you get a call from your head coach: ‘Hey, I’m going to cut you if you don’t apologize for calling me a rookie head coach,'" Wingard explained.

As you'd expect, he went in the next day and apologized in order to keep his job.

Andrew Wingard claims Urban Meyer threatened to cut him for calling him a "rookie" coach. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

This is a wild claim from Andrew Wingard.

If the version of events is true and Wingard was describing Meyer as a "rookie" coach in the context of it being his first year in the NFL, then there's no excuse for this kind of reaction.

Is there even justification for this kind of reaction if it was in a different context? I'm not sure. The Jaguars were awful under Meyer.

It wasn't all his fault, but as the head coach, the buck has to stop with him. He just wasn't a good fit for the NFL. It happens. However, there's a difference between being a tough coach who just isn't a good fit, and then being the kind of coach who threatens to cut people over comments they don't like.

Urban Meyer allegedly threatened to cut Andrew Wingard over "rookie" coach comment. He had Wingard apologize to him. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Meyer wasn't dealing with college athletes anymore. He was dealing with multi-millionaire adult men in the NFL. You have to handle them differently, and threatening to cut a guy over a "rookie" coach comment is unhinged. It's really not a mystery why it didn't work out. With every new story that comes out, it's clear Urban Meyer, while a legendary college coach, just wasn't cut out for the NFL.