Urban Meyer Is Determining Cuts Based on 'Winners and Losers Drills'

Pro Football Talk — Meyer has employed one-on-one drills with an eye toward using the results for giving out jobs.

They’re calling it Winners and Losers day, and Wednesday was the first one.

For example, tight ends Tim Tebow and Chris Manhertz squared off in a special-teams blocking drill on Wednesday. The winner of each round had his name blared over a loudspeaker. Ultimately they went 2-2. (Without a tiebreaker, there’s no Winner or Loser, is there?)

“A big roster’s going to go to a smaller roster, and I think to be fair to players — we all have so much respect [and] this is a way guys make a living — I don’t believe in subjectivity,” Meyer said, via DiRocco. “I believe in, what’s your record? Every man’s got a record. What is it? You are what your record [is]. If you lose a lot but you have a lot of potential, that’s not real good. . . . Just over the course of my career, I can give you example after example [of players who] maybe they’re a little slow, but they just never lose.”

I think I see where Urban Meyer was going with this. You take the "subjectivity" out of the toughest decisions every NFL coaching staff has to make and theoretically give guys an opportunity to earn their way onto the team through these winners and losers drills.

But isn't that exact "subjectivity" kind of his entire job? I'm pretty sure every other coaching staff in the League has been being paid to make subjective roster decisions for as long as there have been players to cut. And in terms of allowing the players to earn a spot with these drills, is that not what the entirety of practice is supposed to be for? If this is all that matters, just eliminate every team period and do winners and losers drills until everyone completes 100.

What happens if Tim Tebow makes three incredible catches in traffic every day of camp but loses a few board drills and gets branded a loser? You think Meyer is going to cut the guy who made his entire career because of his dumbass Madden mini games?

And the fact that there are ties in this thing invalidates it completely. If you're going to call your little motivational tactics winners and losers drill and call it after a 2-2 draw, you don't deserve to have a whistle.

But at the end of the day, we are talking about the guy who may or may not have faked a heart episode or two to get a better job, recruited a convicted murderer and (allegedly) kept a known domestic abuser on his staff, but that's all water under the bridge. It would be a real shame if Meyer fails spectacularly with the most can't-miss prospect of a generation. Real shame.