Jaguars
Multiple sources have told Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports that there has been “no shortage of red flags this offseason” for first-year NFL HC Urban Meyer.
According to La Canfora, there have been repeated issues with other coaches on staff and with Meyer’s temper and lack of familiarity with the ebbs and flows of the NFL calendar. La Canfora says that this has rubbed Jaguars’ staff and players the wrong way at times.
“He has everyone looking over their shoulders already,” a source with direct knowledge of the daily operations in Jacksonville tells La Canfora. “He becomes unhinged way too easily, and he doesn’t know how to handle losing, even in the preseason. He loses it and wants to take over the drills himself. It’s not good.”
La Canfora’s source added that there have been difficulties getting the schedule set and installations completed on time. Meyer has reportedly pushed to treat the preseason games more like the regular season in terms of how vanilla to keep the game plans and how much to play their best players.
Meyer has reportedly “lashed out” at his staff after preseason losses and called some of their job security into question.
“You can’t freak out about preseason games and belittle your coaches — on a staff you handpicked — every time things don’t go your way. It’s not going to work here,” a separate source told La Canfora.
Beyond that, La Canfora writes that there are also some internal concerns about the personnel after Meyer opted to franchise tag OT Cam Robinson and stick with the same offensive line unit that struggled last year.
Texans
According to Jason La Canfora, Texans QB Deshaun Watson is content to get paid not to play football this season and wait for clarity regarding ongoing civil and criminal investigations into allegations of sexual misconduct and assault he’s facing.
La Canfora reports that there’s a “strong feeling” among NFL GMs and executives around the league that Watson will not be going anywhere this season.
As of now, no team has been willing to meet the Texans’ asking price that is believed to be three first-round picks and at least two second-round picks or a quality player still on his cheap rookie contract.
The NFL still isn’t close to making any conclusive ruling on Watson’s status while the Texans continue to pay him not to play and there’s no resolution regarding his legal issues.
“How does anyone make that trade now?” an NFL executive tells La Canfora. “Who does it? You don’t know what you are getting and as soon as you get him the league steps in and puts him on the Exempt List. You think they want him on the field right now?
“We’ve checked with the league, and they have no idea when any of this will be cleared up. So what are you trading for? Give up all those picks and he isn’t playing anyway and he’s making $35M next year and he still might be on the Exempt List or suspended then? Why would you do it now? What owner is taking that risk?”
An NFL general manager explained that he doesn’t think the timing of a potential trade makes that much sense right now.
“The timing just doesn’t work right now. I know people are saying Miami, and I know they really want him, but if they trade for him there’s still a good chance he isn’t playing for them this year, anyway,” the GM said.
A separate GM tells La Canfora that he can’t see Texans GM Nick Caserio budging from his asking price.
“Nick’s not going to budge,” the GM said. “This is his only way out. He has to hold firm. The owner is on board with paying (Watson), so if they have to wait for this to be resolved next year, so be it. They’ll wait until 2022 to make the right trade.”
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