Urban Meyer Reacts to Julio Jones Being Traded to a Divisional Rival
It was over 12 years ago when Urban Meyer first coached against Julio Jones. Jones was a 19-year-old true freshman at Alabama, not yet considered one of the best receivers of an entire generation and the face of an NFL franchise.
Meyer and the Florida Gators beat Jones and the Crimson Tide during that December 2008 clash, but Jones still recorded 124 yards on just five catches (24.8 yards per catch), flashing the otherworldly talent that would turn him into one of the NFL's top playmakers in the coming years.
That would be the last time Jones had a big game against Meyer and the Gators, but it helped leave an impression on Meyer that is still fresh a decade later -- especially now that Meyer will have to game plan to stop Jones twice a year following his trade to the Tennessee Titans and the AFC South.
“I know Julio back from the days coaching against him when he was at Alabama. I saw that and I’m not jacked to see him in our division," Meyer said on Tuesday following the Jaguars' eighth organized team activity practice.
Meyer is in his first season as the Jaguars' head coach and has been brought in to topple teams like the Titans, who have dominated the Jaguars and been mainstays in the postseason and atop the AFC South standings in recent years. The Titans were already the favorite to win the division and Meyer knows the Jaguars have an even tougher challenge ahead of them now that Jones is on their squad.
The Titans dealt their 2022 second-round pick and a 2023 fourth-round selection to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for Jones and a sixth-round pick in 2023, bringing the All-Pro and Pro Bowl receiver to the Jaguars' division and pairing him with A.J. Brown.
Jones has caught 848 career catches for 12,896 receiving yards and 60 touchdowns. He is Atlanta's all-time career leader in receptions (848), receiving yards (12,896) and 100-yard receiving games (58). His average of 95.5 receiving yards per game ranks first in NFL history as well. Put simply, Jones has been nothing short of elite. Meyer now needs to find a way to slow him down.
But Meyer has worked hard this offseason to prepare for scenarios just like this one. The Jaguars had the league's worst pass defense in 2020 due to a mix of injuries, youth and a lack of talent in the secondary last season, which prompted Meyer to make rebuilding the unit a priority.
The Jaguars were active in free agency, re-signing cornerbacks Sidney Jones and Tre Herndon and then signing free agent cornerback Shaquill Griffin to a three-year, $40 million deal and $29 million guaranteed and free agent safety Rayshawn Jenkins to a four-year, $35 million deal with $16 million guaranteed.
The Jaguars then drafted Georgia cornerback Tyson Campbell at No. 33 overall in the 2021 NFL Draft, making him the first selection of the second round. They followed that up with the selection of Syracuse safety Andre Cisco, bringing in yet another new face to join in-house options such as CJ Henderson, Jarrod Wilson and Daniel Thomas.
"But yeah, that’s always been, you look at our history and that’s somewhere that if you go to games without some legit corners, you’re in trouble. And depth, because those are the positions that get banged up a little bit," Meyer said.
"So, Tyson [Campbell] and then also the free agency with Shaq [Griffin], you know CJ [Henderson] has got to get healthy and so, we’ve got a little bit more depth there than, certainly, we had a year ago.”
The Jaguars are expecting the secondary to take a big leap in 2021. If they do, then they just may be able to help Meyer and his squad triumph over Jones like the coach did a decade ago. If not, then the Jaguars could be in for a long eight quarters of football against the playmaking receiver.
