Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer openly admitted he and general manager Trent Baalke took a player's COVID-19 vaccination status into account when making final roster cuts ahead of Tuesday's deadline. That admission has Meyer in a bit of hot water with the NFL Players Association, according to ESPN's Michael DiRocco.
NFLPA assistant executive director for external affairs George Atallah told ESPN the union has opened an investigation into the matter. Teams are prohibited from using vaccination status as the sole reason to cut a player.
The Jaguars coach said vaccination status was simply one of several things considered when making the final cuts:
“Everyone was considered,” Meyer said. “That was part of the [considerations such as] production, let's start talking about this, and also is he vaccinated or not? Can I say that that was a decision-maker? It was certainly in consideration.”
Meyer noted how the protocols are vastly different for vaccinated and unvaccinated players. While the NFL didn't explicitly mandate getting the vaccine, the rules in place make it so getting the vaccine is a competitive advantage. While there has been some backlash to these rules, with Buffalo Bills wide receiver Cole Beasley a very loud example, a good portion of the league has in fact received the jab.
Meyer probably could have avoided this trouble if he was a bit less honest, but instead he just came right out and admitted the role being vaccinated played in the Jaguars' decision-making on. Honestly, good on Urban Meyer for saying it out loud.
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