Getting the most out of Trevor Lawrence will be a top priority for new Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen.
So how will Coen go about accomplishing that? Well, he’s going to tailor the offense around Lawrence.
“How do we make Trevor Lawrence and this offense as dynamic and explosive as we can be? We’ve got to build it around him, we’ve got to make every part of this about improvement, and he will be a part of that process,” Coen said during Monday’s introductory press conference.
“He’s earned that right. I cannot respect his toughness and mentality and work ethic more than I do already from afar. This will all be about Trevor.”
Lawrence’s 2024 season was unfortunately cut short due to a shoulder injury. But before that point, his completion percentage had dropped five percent from the year prior and his turnover-worthy play rate had increased slightly, along with his passer rating dipping as well.
During Coen’s previous stop with Tampa Bay, in one season, he built one of the most effective offenses in football with the Bucs being the only team to rank top-five in scoring, rushing yards, and passing yards per game.
A big part of that success was quarterback Baker Mayfield having a career year in many respects under Coen.
As Coen stated last season in an interview on the Bucs team site, elements of his offense include a heavy usage of motions and shifts, along with giving the quarterback the autonomy at the line of scrimmage to run multiple plays depending on what looks he’s getting from the defense.
Those elements should all help Lawrence and the passing game, but perhaps the catalyst behind all of that is a strong running game. When an offense has a run game to lean on, that keeps them ahead of the sticks and out of predictable passing situations, while opening up the playbook and opportunities in the passing game.
“It takes all 11 to get better in the run game,” said Coen about the Bucs’ quick turnaround in the run game. “Mike Evans, Hall of Famer, digging out support on the front side of runs. Selflessness. The quarterback being involved.
“Everybody being involved and you started to show them examples of that, whether it’s in LA, Minnesota, Green Bay, a ton of different places run a similar system and have had similar success running the football, which now also helps the pass game, the defense, the special teams.”
Last season, the Jaguars’ offense as a whole ranked 19th in yards per rush, 26th in points per game, and 22nd in yards per pass attempt.
