Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer made headlines following cut-down day, saying he considered a player’s vaccination status while making a decision. That led the NFL Players Association to open an investigation into Meyer’s comments.
However, according to sources informed of the situation, Meyer’s actions on the day teams established their initial 53-man rosters do not warrant the investigation going further based on the numbers.
Of the 24 players who were released, 23 were fully vaccinated, a source said. Just one was unvaccinated. In fact, the Jaguars are actually the fifth-most unvaccinated team in the NFL with 11 on their roster.
While everyone involved would hope that the team would eventually have more players who are vaccinated, those numbers do appear to show there was no preference given to players who are fully vaccinated.
The league did not comment on the investigation, and neither did the NFLPA.
After the NFLPA opened an investigation, the Jaguars put out a statement saying zero players were released because of their vaccination status, but that “availability is one of the many factors taken into account when making roster decisions.”
Follow Ian Rapoport on Twitter.