When the Jacksonville Jaguars ousted Doug Pederson, they made it a priority to look for a head coach who could get the most out of Trevor Lawrence. For a bit, they seemingly zeroed in on then-Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but ultimately targeted Liam Coen, who managed to turn the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into an offensive juggernaut during his stint as their offensive coordinator in 2025.
Coen hit it out of the ballpark in one of his first interviews with the Jags, impressing them not only with his football knowledge but his leadership skills as well. Fast forward to 2026, and Jacksonville is coming off a 13-win season and ready to defend its division crown. Similarly, Lawrence posted career numbers in 2025 and is ready to take the next step. That said, it wasn't always easy.
Lawrence and Coen went through an adjustment period in which the two had to learn about the other. Just recently, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated took a deep dive into many of the things the duo dealt with in 2025 before taking off late in the season.
Liam Coen tweaked his process for Trevor Lawrence in their 1st season with the Jaguars
Albert Breer went over Trevor Lawrence's first season under Liam Coen and all the challenges the quarterback-head coach duo faced in 2025. There were several moments that defined the relationship, and Breer credits Coen for adjusting his scheme and taking advantage of Lawrence's strength. Here's a snippet.
"We started to tweak things to tighten the menu of the pass game to things he does at a high level," Coen said, via Breer. "And what are the areas that he needs to improve on? Maybe some of those can go on the shelf for the offseason. And also, it was like, in pure-progression reads, it's, All right, one, two, three, four. You're just exhausting it. It's not a coverage read. All right, one, two, go. Start using your legs more. I think that helped allow him to play more freely."
This is more or less what Coen stated during a recent exchange with Rich Eisen of NFL Media, in which Coen wants Lawrence to use his legs more. Similarly, he wants him to play loose, something he once again stated in Breer's article.
"He was loose because he wasn't worried about, before the snap, going to number four. It was, I've got to get all the way back to this guy, maybe I can, I don't know, and is the protection going to hold up? You've got a lot of things going in your mind. So man, let's try to trim the inventory, tighten up, what he does well, what our wideouts do well, what our tight ends do well," Coen said.
Breer later points out that the Jakobi Mayers trade also helped Lawrence immensely. Before the former North Carolina State Wolfpack landed in Duval, Jacksonville struggled with drops. His arrival brougth stability to the offense, with No. 16 completing 62.6 percent of his throws for 1,856 yards with 18 touchdowns and four interceptions in the last seven games to close the year.
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Liam Coen and Trevor Lawrence can take the Jaguars even further in 2026
Before Liam Coen took over, Trevor Lawrence didn't get adequate coaching. Urban Meyer had no idea what he was doing in his rookie season, and Doug Pederson helped him bounce back in 2022 but eventually stopped being involved in his development, choosing to delegate it to right-hand man Press Taylor. Couple that with the fact that No. 16 hasn't always had a good supporting cast, and it's easy to see why he hasn't been able to build consistency.
On the other hand, Lawrence isn't free of fault. He hasn't always made the best decisions and has at times tried to overcompensate for the dearth of talent around him. The good news is that the Jags have quietly changed that since the new regime took over in 2025. The sixth-year quarterback no longer has to put the team on his shoulders to win games, and Coen has managed to unlock his potential.
Specifically, Coen has done what Pederson and Meyer failed to do; adjust to Lawrence and find a way to maximize his strengths.
Not surprisingly, Trevor Lawrence is a dark horse candidate in his second season under Liam Coen and is also on the verge of taking the Jaguars into a deep playoff push.
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