For fans of the San Francisco 49ers, the current circus surrounding Urban Meyer and the Jacksonville Jaguars feels all too familiar.
On Saturday, NFL.com reporter Tom Pelissero released a bombshell report about how the Jaguars were melting down behind the scenes under Meyer’s rule as head coach. Included in the story was one anecdote where he allegedly called his coaching staff all “losers” and challenged “each coach individually to explain when they’ve ever won and forcing them to defend their résumés.”
This, among other wild stories, were all vaguely sourced to unnamed individuals, or, to put it in layman’s terms, the news was all leaked to Pelissero.
What we have with the Jacksonville Jaguars, then, is an organization where a coach with a strong personality, and who made his fame winning at the collegiate level, is losing a press war to leaked information. To some in the Bay Area media sphere, this scenario felt reminiscent of the Niners’ not-too-distant history.
What Jimmy Durkin is dancing around in the above tweet is that Jaguars General Manager Trent Baalke was the GM of the 49ers when the organization was known for its constant leaks that maligned the likes of Jim Harbaugh, another coach who made his fame winning in college and having a bold personality, and Colin Kaepernick.
This, of course, is not to say that Baalke is the one who was behind the leaks in San Francisco, nor is it to say that he’s responsible for the leaks that are coming out of Jacksonville this week. It’s just an interesting coincidence to note that in two organizations on near opposite ends of the country, this sort of situation has played out.
What’s also interesting is that there is still more to this that could play out to make the two scenarios even more similar.
If Tim Kawakami’s tweet turns out to be prescient, it’ll be just like after the 2014 season when Harbaugh was out as coach, and Baalke was still around.
