Travis Etienne Jr. recalls how Urban Meyer lost Jaguars locker room

The Jacksonville Jaguars have experienced a historic turnaround under Liam Coen in 2025. The first-year head coach has led Jacksonville to 12 wins after the team finished with a 4-13 record last season. The Jaguars can clinch the AFC South by beating the Tennessee Titans in Week 18. They also have an outside shot at the No. 1 seed if everything breaks their way this weekend.

But while Jacksonville is on the verge of its first 13-win season in 26 years, Travis Etienne Jr. revisited one of the franchise’s bleakest periods. The Jaguars RB discussed the Urban Meyer debacle on the St. Brown Podcast.

“Urban, he was just being very hypocritical because I remember one time… we had played the Bengals, and he stayed out there. He didn’t fly back with the team. He just stayed and they got him on video,” Etienne recalled. “And then he came and tried to address each meeting room individually and basically he was just in there capping. They got the video out there so it was just crazy to see. And I feel like once that happened, he lost the locker room and it was just straight downhill from there.”

Travis Etienne remembers Urban Meyer’s brief Jaguars run

The Jaguars hired Meyer prior to the 2021 season. While he was a veteran head coach, all of his experience came at the college level. And his first (and only) season in the NFL did not end well.

Meyer got off to a good start, selecting Trevor Lawrence and Etienne in the first round of the 2021 draft. But for some reason, Etienne was forced to take all his reps at wideout during training camp. This was odd because Meyer selected him as the second running back off the board at 25th overall.

Etienne suffered a severe Lisfranc injury during the preseason and didn’t make his pro debut until the following year. But he was around to watch Meyer’s season go off the rails.

As Etienne mentioned, Meyer remained in Ohio after the Jaguars’ loss to the Bengals. The first-year head coach was already dealing with an 0-4 start. But then Meyer was caught on video acting inappropriately with a woman who was not his wife. That, according to Etienne, was when he lost the locker room.

Meyer went 2-11 before he was fired in the middle of his first NFL season. He has not returned to coaching since.

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