Urban Meyer discusses what he believes Joe Cullen brings to Jags’ coaching staff

The Jacksonville Jaguars team as a whole has work to do, but the unit that needs to make the biggest improvement is the defense. When Urban Meyer took the job as the team’s head coach, he likely understood this more than anyone and knew he had to make a great hire.

Long story short, his journey as the Jags’ newest head coach led him to former Baltimore Ravens defensive line coach Joe Cullen. After studying the Ravens’ defense quite a bit, Meyer told Jaguars.com that he grew a great deal of respect for the unit. However, it wasn’t his love for the scheme and play style that made him want Cullen. Instead, it was his ability to bring the best out of a player.

“What I look for in a coordinator is not necessarily scheme but the best teacher,” Meyer said. “I had a relationship with Joe Cullen for probably 20 years. I have great admiration for where he came from. The [Baltimore] Ravens’ defense is a defense I’ve always studied. But I would hire Joe if it was another defense as well. I think he’s a great teacher. He’s extremely tough, but the players love him and they love playing for him.”

Meyer’s statements echoe a lot of what has been said about Cullen these last few months by the NFL community. In fact, Jags Wire spoke with a player who was coached by Cullen during his first tenure in Jacksonville in Austen Lane, who raved about Cullen’s attention to detail in episode 56 of “Bleav in the Jags.”

When looking at the Jags defense that struggled mightily and was ranked 31st overall, part of their issue with them was inexperience. With that being the case, Meyer felt the way to fix the issue was with great teachers, though more talent needs to be acquired, too. Only time will tell if Cullen can truly fix the unit, but the reviews on him have certainly been uplifting.