Report: Josh Lambo Sues Jaguars, Says Urban Meyer Created Hostile Environment
Former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo is reportedly kicking around another option following his allegations against former head coach Urban Meyer.
According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Lambo is suing the Jaguars following Lambo's allegation that the ex-coach kicked him.
According to Stroud, Lambo is "seeking his $3.5 million salary for 2021, plus damages for emotional distress. The lawsuit says Lambo’s performance suffered as a result of being kicked and verbally abused by then-head coach Urban Meyer."
"The lawsuit, filed in the 4th Judicial Circuit Court in Duval County on Tuesday, claims Meyer and the Jaguars created a hostile work environment," Stroud wrote. "Since Lambo reported the incident to the Jaguars’ legal counsel, his subsequent release violated Florida’s Private Sector Whistle Blower’s Act, the lawsuit claims."
The final major story to come out during Meyer's tenure with the Jaguars was, of course, Lambo's allegations to the Tampa Bay Times that Meyer kicked him during a warmup before the 2021 season. Meyer was fired hours after the story was released, with the Jaguars stating that Meyer's fiting was several days in the works.
“I’m in a lunge position. Left leg forward, right leg back,” Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times. “... Urban Meyer, while I’m in that stretch position, comes up to me and says, ‘Hey Dips---, make your f------ kicks!’ And kicks me in the leg.”
“It certainly wasn’t as hard as he could’ve done it, but it certainly wasn’t a love tap,” Lambo told the Times. “Truthfully, I’d register it as a five (out of 10). Which in the workplace, I don’t care if it’s football or not, the boss can’t strike an employee. And for a second, I couldn’t believe it actually happened. Pardon my vulgarity, I said, ‘Don’t you ever f------ kick me again!’ And his response was, ‘I’m the head ball coach, I’ll kick you whenever the f--- I want.’”
Meyer rebuted the allegations then and did so again earlier this offseason, sayine he even had other players back up his side of the story when it came to the Lambo allegations. Despite his refusal of Lambo's version of events, however Meyer did admit to making contact with Lambo with his foot.
“When you come out and say a player was kicked, that’s not true. That's not true at all,” Meyer said.
"I certainly did not,” Meyer said. “To say I didn’t tap him with my foot… To kick someone? Come on. I’ve done this 37 years. Kick a player? And you know, the other players came up to me and said, ‘We saw the whole thing.’ Because I’d mostly forgotten about it.”
The Jaguars released Lambo on Oct. 19 last season after he started the preseason in a slump and continued throughout the regular season, eventually being replaced by Matthew Wright after Week 6.
Lambo struggled out of the gate in 2021, missing several kicks in the preseason and then starting 0-for-3 on field goals in the first three games of the season. In Lambo's final game with the Jaguars, he also missed two extra-point attempts.
"I like Josh Lambo, I like his commitment to being a great player. He’s in a slump right now, but there’s also the reality. The reality is you’ve got to put it through the uprights," Meyer said following Week 4.
"We are all pulling for him—I can tell you this, the whole team is pulling for him. He’s a great guy that works his you-know-what off.”
Lambo's accuracy issues led to Wright being signed by the Jaguars prior to Week 4. Wright made three PATs in Week 4, but him and Lambo would compete over the next two weeks of practice to earn the right to be named the starting kicker for game days.
Wright won the competition both weeks. He struggled in Week 5, missing a 50+ yard field goal attempt and one PAT. But in Week 6, Wright was automatic, going 3-of-3 on field goals and making 54- and 53-yard field goals in the final four minutes of the game.
Wright's three field goals against the Dolphins were the first any Jaguars kicker made last year season. Lambo, the fourth-most accurate placekicker in NFL history, missed a field-goal attempt in each of the Jaguars’ first two preseason games.
Lambo appeared in 46 games during his five years with the Jaguars. During that time, Lambo was one of the league's most accurate kickers, including leading the NFL in field goal % in 2019.
