Hugh Douglas hasn't played in the NFL since 2004, but the former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end recalls how he felt when Jack Del Rio cut then-quarterback Byron Leftwich in 2007, and says the coach isn't to be trusted by the team after he dispatched David Garrard days before this season's opener.
Douglas, an ESPN NFL analyst, was asked Thursday if there was one NFL coach he'd like to fight.
Without pause, Douglas selected Del Rio.
"You basically tell this guy ... 'Hey, you're my guy,'Â " Douglas told ESPN Radio. "Then all of a sudden, five days before the season starts, you decide to cut me and go with Luke McCown, (a) guy who's taken all of 19 snaps in the preseason. And he's going to be your starter.
"But this is not unlike Jack because he did Byron Leftwich the same way. My statement is this: If there was ever a coach who needs to be punched in the face for not being truthful to his players, it has to be Jack Del Rio."
Douglas, a 10-year veteran who played under Del Rio with Jacksonville in 2003, suggested the coach is burning bridges.
"If I'm a Jacksonville Jaguar right now," said Douglas, "I'm looking at Jack Del Rio right now like ... first and foremost, 'You're not trustworthy.'
"I can't believe that those guys in Jacksonville believe what Jack Del Rio is selling."
One day after his release, Garrard didn't point any fingers.
"I have no one to blame but myself," Garrard told The Florida Times-Union on Wednesday in his first public comments since he was cut. "I still have a fire inside of me."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
