John Edwin Meyer (February 20, 1942 – November 4, 2020) was an American professional football player and coach. He played as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

in the American Football League (AFL).

Biography

Meyer graduated from Brother Rice High School.

Playing career

Meyer played at the collegiate level at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

. He played with the

of the AFL as a

during the

1966 AFL season The 1966 American Football League season was the seventh regular season of the AFL. The league began its merger process with the National Football League (NFL) in June, which took effect fully in . The season also saw the debut of the expansio ...

after being traded to the team by the Buffalo Bills. The Bills had drafted him in the fifteenth round of the

1965 AFL Draft The 1965 American Football League draft took place on November 28, 1964. Held via telephone conference call, it remains the only draft in major professional football history to be held without a central location. The NFL draft was held the same d ...

. Meyer had also been drafted by the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

in the eighth round of the

1965 NFL Draft The 1965 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 28, 1964. The first player selected was Tucker Frederickson, back from Auburn, by the New York Giants. The draft was marked by the fail ...

. While with the Oilers, John played all fourteen games in 1966 at linebacker before suffering a career-ending injury. After his playing career, John became one of the youngest assistant coaches in the NFL.

Coaching career

Meyer served as an assistant coach with the Oilers, New England Patriots and Detroit Lions before joining the Green Bay Packers. With the Packers, he served as linebackers coach from 1975 to 1979 and defensive coordinator from 1980 to 1983. Following his time in the NFL, Meyer later became a part-time assistant coach at

St. Norbert College St. Norbert College (SNC) is a private Norbertine liberal arts college in De Pere, Wisconsin. Founded in October 1898 by Abbot Bernard Pennings, a Norbertine priest and educator, the school was named after Saint Norbert of Xanten. In 1952, the c ...

Death

Meyer died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

on November 4, 2020, at age 78.

References

1942 births 2020 deaths Players of American football from Chicago Houston Oilers players American football linebackers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players National Football League defensive coordinators Green Bay Packers coaches Detroit Lions coaches New England Patriots coaches Houston Oilers coaches St. Norbert Green Knights football coaches American Football League players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois {{Amfoot-coach-stub