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January 3, 2021 By: Kevin Kissner

It’s time for Urban Meyer to make the jump to the NFL

Urban Meyer needs to make the jump to the NFL. Period. End of Story.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, at least two NFL teams have reached out to Meyer to see if he would be interested in interviewing for – if not accepting – a head coaching job. If Meyer decided to make the jump to the next level, he would be near the top of a lot of teams’ lists next to Eric Bieniemy and Robert Saleh.

According to Schefter, sources believe Meyer wants to make sure that if he decides to make the jump to the NFL, he is prepared to fully immerse himself in a new world.

The best job for Meyer would be to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jacksonville owns the number one overall pick and will likely take Trevor Lawrence, who is considered one of the greatest prospects of all times — right up there with guys like Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning, and John Elway.

Jacksonville will also have close to $100 million in cap space next season making it easier to go out and sign free agents.

The Jaguars also don’t have a general manager at the moment, which means that Jacksonville could hire Meyer and allow him to pick his next general manager like the 49ers did with Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch. Trent Baalke is the interim general manager right now. Baalke has a bit of a relationship with Meyer dating back to when Baalke was involved with the 49ers drafting Meyer’s college quarterback Alex Smith 1^st overall. The Jaguars also own 11 picks entering April’s draft.

According to Kyle Rowland of The Blade in Ohio, Meyer is seriously considering Jacksonville. This means he would return back to the state of Florida where he led the Florida Gators to two National Championships. Meyer also owns a home in Florida.

Another option for Meyer is that he could head up north and coach the Detroit Lions. Though I’m not sure Ohio St. fans would be happy to see him coaching in the state of Michigan, but then again it is at the next level.

Meyer has a connection up in Detroit with former Ohio St. Buckeye Chris Spielman. Spielman is now working with the Lions in their front office.

The Lions will more than likely be picking in the top 10 in the upcoming draft and might be looking for a new quarterback if they move on from Matthew Stafford like multiple reports have suggested. If Detroit does move on from Stafford they could easily be looking to draft a quarterback and maybe the Lions could move up and get Ohio St. quarterback Justin Fields. He would fit perfectly in Meyer’s spread offense.

If Meyer wants to go somewhere with an already established quarterback and a rising team, he could look at the Los Angeles Chargers. Herbert is proving that he’s the guy and could work in Meyer’s system on offense. The Chargers also have a brand-new stadium that could be intriguing to Meyer. Again, this is based on the speculation that the Chargers will move on from current head coach Anthony Lynn.

In December of 2018 Meyer announced he was retiring from coaching after his Buckeyes would play in the Rose Bowl. Meyer would retire with a record of 187-32 while coaching at Ohio St., Florida, Utah, and Bowling Green. Meyer won three National Championships combined between Florida and Ohio St.

We’ve seen college coaches make the jump to the NFL and fail, but we’ve also seen some succeed. Meyer’s health is a concern, but he also knows that he doesn’t need to be traveling and recruiting anymore. Matt Rhule and Kliff Kingsbury are the most recent coaches to make the leap from college to the NFL are showing signs of success. Jimmie Johnson also had success after leaving the University of Miami for the Dallas Cowboys.

Meyer currently is a college football analyst for Fox Sports. When on The Herd with Colin Cowherd in December, Meyer said, “At this point, I think I’m done. But I learned a long time ago — I left a job once where I planned on being there, and then you get a call from a better opportunity. So I think I’m done, but I would never say I’m completely done.”