As the Jacksonville Jaguars’ coaching staff continues to take shape, there is a common thread that has emerged on the offensive side of the ball, with there being a strong Sean McVay presence.
Head coach Liam Coen had two different stints with the LA Rams under McVay in his coaching career.
“Definitely,” said Coen when asked if he considers himself part of the McVay coaching tree. “That was where I learned truly the game in a lot of ways. Got my, if you will, PHD in coaching and learned at a different level. To be around him, the Kevin O’Connells, the Zac Taylors, those guys, the Matt LaFleurs, to be around them, to see how they operated, this is the way I would like to do things.
“You’re always going to have your own twist on it, but I’m proud to say I’m in the Sean McVay tree.”
But McVay’s presence in the Jaguars’ new offense doesn’t stop there. The offensive coordinator under Coen will be Grant Udinski. While Udinski didn’t directly coach under McVay, he has worked closely the last few years with Vikings’ head coach Kevin O’Connell, who was the Rams’ offensive coordinator before heading to Minnesota.
The Jaguars also added Shane Waldron to the offensive staff and before Waldron got offensive coordinator roles in Seattle and Chicago, he was the Rams’ passing game coordinator from 2018-2020.
And while not official, the Rams’ assistant offensive line coach Zak Kromer is among the candidates for the Jaguars’ offensive line coaching role.
There is the obvious success that the McVay offenses have had throughout the years, but what makes those units difficult to defend is the multiplicity of them. The McVay system throws a lot at opposing defenses by running a variety of plays from just a few personnel packages and by running like-plays, or plays that look similar initially but end up quite different.
“If we can all be honest with each other in this building, we’ll be able to grow,” said Coen on what he learned from McVay. “I think that’s the first thing: the ownership. The ownership is not just in the good times, it’s truly in the adverse times. And how do we handle success while also being able to handle adversity? Those are things that I learned from Sean.”
At the top of the to-do list for Coen and his staff will be getting the most out of quarterback Trevor Lawrence. There is obviously a lot of factors that will contribute to that, but two important elements, as Coen noted, will be building the offense around Lawrence and having a running game to lean on.
