The Jacksonville Jaguars have a bit of a loaded quarterback room at the moment. Gardner Minshew hasn’t been traded (yet) and remains on the roster along with C.J. Beathard, who the team signed in free agency from San Francisco. Further, Jacksonville is expected to add Trevor Lawrence in the draft with the first overall pick.
But with that being said, it seems the allure of bringing in a passer that Meyer has a lot of familiarity with continues to nag at the new Jags coach. Former Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith, who Meyer coached at Utah as the pair led the Utes to an undefeated season in 2004, is a free agent, and on a podcast appearance with Michael Irvin, Meyer said he considered bringing Smith in and that he may still do it.
“I wanted him here,” Meyer said. “You know, we talked to him about joining here. He’s had a tough injury. Of all the players I’ve ever coached, and I would tell people this when people didn’t know how tough he was, he’s one of the toughest cats I’ve ever been around.
“[…] We had conversations with him. There are some medical people in our organization that were very concerned. And remember, our GM [Trent Baalke] actually drafted Alex at San Francisco. So you have two people in Jacksonville that love Alex. It was that was deeper than a player, now. He’s like our family. Both of us feel so strongly about them. But that’s something that we’re just going to keep an eye on because I hope he comes back.”
The connections certainly are there for Smith. In addition to his experience with Meyer, Baalke was in his first season as a scout with San Francisco when the team drafted Smith first overall in 2005.
It seemed his career was at an end in 2018 when he suffered a horrific leg injury, but after a herculean rehabilitation effort, Smith returned to the field in 2020 for Washington. He’s 36-years-old and may be looking to call it a career, but if he has some gas left in the tank, moving to Florida and mentoring Lawrence could be an attractive offer.
