Jaguars release statement that tries to explain Urban Meyer's vaccination comments

Urban Meyer ruffled some feathers on Tuesday with his comments about vaccination status affecting roster decisions, and now the Jacksonville Jaguars are trying to explain what their head coach really meant when he told the media that a player's COVID-19 vaccination status "was certainly in consideration" when he and his staff were making decisions on roster cuts.

The Jags released a statement Wednesday that attempted to reframe Meyer's comments in a way that wouldn't get him in trouble.

According to ProFootballTalk, the NFL and NFLPA have jointly agreed that a team cannot consider a player's vaccination status when making employment decisions. Since Meyer openly admitted to breaking the rules and doing exactly that, the Jaguars are attempting to clarify that Meyer was actually talking about player availability, which just so happens to be impacted by their vaccination status.

Unvaccinated players could be available far less over the course of the season due to the time they have to miss if they are exposed to COVID-19, test positive, or miss a day of their mandated daily testing. Vaccinated players miss far, far less time if they're exposed or test positive, and currently they're not required to be tested every day.

"Availability" is, at least in part, a fancy way to say "yes, we are considering vaccination status" without actually saying it. But Meyer didn't use those words. Instead, he said the quiet part aloud and admitted that he considered vaccination status.

An NFLPA spokesperson told PFT's Mike Florio on Tuesday night that the union has opened an investigation into Meyer's comments, so we'll eventually find out whether the group bought the Jags' explanation or not.