As the Jacksonville Jaguars and Liam Coen reengage in conversations around the team’s head coaching vacancy, more twists and turns with this entire situation are being reported.
As far as the timeline goes, Coen was supposed to originally interview for the Jaguars’ head coaching opening on Wednesday. However, that morning, he withdrew his name from contention to stay with Tampa Bay and receive a new contract with a good-sized pay raise.
According to SI’s Albert Breer, that new deal was for three years and would have made him the highest-paid coordinator in the NFL, and it was contingent on him not taking a second interview with the Jaguars.
But as of Thursday, Coen had not yet signed the contract. Adam Schefter would report that the Bucs could not get ahold of Coen all day.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times would added that Coen did reach out to Todd Bowles but it wasn’t until 5:00 PM.
To be clear, the Liam Coen contacted head coach Todd Bowles around 5 p. m. Thursday. He said he had been with one of his kids, who had taken ill, at a doctors office. He mentioned the Jaguars situation only briefly, saying he wanted to look back into it.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 24, 2025
While the timing of Coen now meeting with the Jaguars aligns with the team moving on from general manager Trent Baalke, another part of the equation is the money that Jacksonville is now offering.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini would report that Coen will get to pick who the Jaguars’ next general manager is and that they would pay him “Ben Johnson” level money.
For some context around what that figure might be, Pro Football Talk reported that Johnson’s contract will pay him $13 million per year.
Although noting is official as of now, it all seems like a matter of time. On Thursday evening, Josina Anderson would report that the Bucs are “currently concentrating” on finding their next offensive coordinator with Liam Coen expected to be the Jaguars next head coach.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler would add that from a source on the Coen situation:
“Ultimately, things changed with the job and he felt he owed it to himself to speak with (Jacksonville) about a head coaching position.”
