Josh Lambo Details Run-In With Urban Meyer, Alleges Coach 'Kicked' Him in August Warmup
Former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker Josh Lambo last suited up for the team in Week 3, but recent headlines have the kicker speaking out about what he described to the Tampa Bay Times as run-ins with head coach Urban Meyer.
In an interview with Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud, Lambo recalled an incident with Meyer during an August practice before the Jaguars' final preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys. Lambo, who was released in October after missing three kicks to start the year, alleged to Stroud that Meyer kicked him in the leg during warmups.
“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 was given a chance to give his side of the account to the Times, in which he stated that Lambo mischaracterized both the incident and Meyer himself, with Lambo referring to Meyer as a "bully".
“Josh’s characterization of me and this incident is completely inaccurate, and there are eyewitnesses to refute his account,” Meyer said, via the Tampa Bay Times. “(General manager) Trent (Baalke) and I met with him on multiple occasions to encourage his performance, and this was never brought up. I was fully supportive of Josh during his time with the team and wish him nothing but the best.”
Lambo detailed to the Tampa Bay Times that his agent contacted the Jaguars' legal counsel the day after the incident. The Tampa Bay Times reported that the Jaguars and Lambo's agent both confirmed the team's legal counsel "was contacted and offered Lambo a chance to meet with them."
“Jaguars legal counsel indeed acknowledged and responded immediately to the query made by Josh Lambo’s agent Friday, August 27, 2021,” the Jaguars said in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times. “Counsel offered to speak with Josh, or to assist Josh in speaking with coaching or any other football personnel, if he was comfortable with her sharing the information. Any suggestion otherwise is blatantly false.”
Lambo's status as the team's kicker was in question from to start of the preseason, with Lambo missing field goals in each of the Jaguars' first two preseason games. Lambo eventually made the Jaguars' 53-man roster and kicked in the team's first three games, missing all three of his field goal attempts and a pair of extra points.
Lambo would be released after the Jaguars' Week 6 victory over the Miami Dolphins, a game in which kicker Matthew Wright made a game-winning field goal.
Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times his motivation for speaking out about his alleged experiences with Meyer is because of recent comments Meyer made about leaks within the Jaguars organization. Meyer has come under fire after recent reports of inner turmoil in Jacksonville, which led Meyer to say after Sunday's 20-0 loss to the Tennesee Titans that sources within the organization would lose their jobs.
"So what's the answer? Start leaking information or some nonsense? No. No, that's nonsense. That's garbage," Meyer said on Sunday.
"That's once again -- I've been very blessed. I've not really dealt with that. I've not dealt with, ‘Well, did you hear what he said?’ What? No. Let's improve on offense and get our quarterback in a position to be successful. That's our focus. What someone's brother said, or someone said someone said, that will occupy very little of my time. And if there is a source, that source is unemployed. I mean, within seconds, if there's some source that's doing that."
In this instance, there is no source -- it is coming from an on-record account of a former player, albeit an account that is contested.
“That’s the reason I wanted to talk about this,” Lambo told the Tampa Bay Times. “There’s been a lot of turnover, but those are still my people. Some of those dudes are my dudes, and the staff members I have grown into amazing relationships with over the last five seasons. He threatened all of them for speaking the truth. And that’s a bully, and people need to speak up against bullies.”
From the Lambo interview to last weekend's reports about Meyer's issues with staff members and players alike, the Jaguars have constantly been in the headlines as of late. Wins have been few and far in between for the 2-11 Jaguars, who are tied with the Houston Texans for the worst record in the AFC. The Texans beat the Jaguars in a 37-21 blowout in Week 1.
"You’re always going to have some form of drama. I’ve learned that even just the NFL is more drama in general than college no matter where you’re at. But you’re right, there’s been a lot and to your point, I do think that has to change," quarterback Trevor Lawrence said on Wednesday.
"That’s something that we need to work on for sure. You can’t always be in the headlines; you just have to go play football. That’s where we’re trying to get, and I have no doubt we’ll get there.”
