The Jacksonville Jaguars are expected to hire Liam Coen as the team’s next head coach in what has ended up being a pretty wild turn of events and 48 hours for the organization.
After withdrawing his name from head coach consideration on Wednesday to stay in Tampa Bay and be among the highest-paid coordinators in the NFL, Coen changed course on Thursday after the Jaguars moved on from general manager Trent Baalke, and owner Shad Khan made another attempt to restart coaching conversations.
A top priority for Coen as the Jaguars’ head coach will be maximizing Trevor Lawrence’s abilities, something he did in Tampa Bay with Baker Mayfield. Coen is also reportedly going to play an important role in the Jaguars’ general manager search.
Following the news, Jaguars Wire dove into four things you need to know about Coen. But for added insight, Andrew Harbaugh, the managing editor of Bucs Wire, was kind enough to answer a few questions about Coen.
Jaguars Wire: What were some of the qualities of Coen’s offense that led to the success the Bucs had in 2024?
Harbaugh: Coen did a great job of riding hot hands whenever they made plays. He is on record saying, “Plays don’t make plays; players do.” He trusted Baker Mayfield to get the ball into playmakers, which led to big weeks from a variety of players week after week.
Jaguars Wire: A top priority in Jacksonville will be maximizing Trevor Lawrence’s abilities. How did Coen accomplish that with the Baker Mayfield?
Harbaugh: Trevor Lawrence is going to have so much pressure taken off of him. Lawrence is a sound decision-maker right now, but he lacks the ability to work outside of structure, Coen will change that. Baker Mayfield thrived when plays broke down and was able to have 2-3 options when those plays broke down.
There will be growing pains with Lawrence, maybe some more turnovers, but the offense is fun, and Coen will help him develop the mindset of “onto the next one.”
Jaguars Wire: I’ve heard Coen discuss the importance of the run game, can you speak to that element in the Bucs’ offense last season?
Harbaugh: Coen took the Bucs run game from 32nd in the NFL in 2023 to 3rd this past season. The only difference was they added a fourth-round pick of Bucky Irving. For the Jaguars, I would expect Travis Etienne to have the best year of his career, but also look for Tank Bigsby to have some string weeks mixed in there as well.
This past season, Bucky Irving was the lead back, no question about it, but Coen will go with the hot hand. A prime example of that is that he was able to turn the third running back on the depth chart into the NFC Offensive Player of the Week in October.
