Jaguars won't send Liam Coen or James Gladstone to Combine, but it's no big deal

It'd be one thing if the Jacksonville Jaguars' dynamic duo of GM James Gladstone and head coach Liam Coen had some sort of music to face. However, they catapulted the franchise forward in their first year together, so it's really not a controversy that they aren't attending the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.

The vast majority of teams will have their head coach and GM address the media to take questions. You could argue the Jags' brass is acting a little big-time for the Combine, but hey, these dudes are feeling themselves, and don't want to divulge any draft strategery. Who can blame them for not journeying to Lucas Oil Stadium?

Gotta admit. I'm being a little facetious with how this premise is unfolding thus far. In reality, Coen and Gladstone are just taking a page out of the Los Angeles Rams' playbook, the organization they shared time at before guiding Jacksonville to the AFC South title in 2025.

Remember last year, when all was quiet on the Gladstone-Coen front until they shocked everyone by trading up for Travis Hunter? Love me some "close to the vest" gamesmanship.

Jaguars not sending anyone to the NFL Scouting Combine is a privilege brought about by success

Paul Bretl of Jaguars Wire did a solid breakdown on why Coen and Gladstone, nor any other personnel folks in Jacksonville, will be attending the 2026 Combine. The medical staff will be there to gather information on prospects. That's it.

No boots on the ground to watch the Underwear Olympics. No top-30 visits. Nothing. Bretl's story featured a standup video from ESPN beat reporter Michael DiRocco. No direct link to that, by the way. Just the link to the Jags' ESPN dot com landing page.

"They can evaluate the players based on what they see on the film, and they'd rather rely on their scouting reports and the information their scouts have gathered on the players over the last several years. [...] They don't want to conduct any top 30 visits either because they don't want their opinion of a player to be changed or altered in any way based on a 15-20 minute visit. This is a system that the Rams use, and they've used it quite successfully."

Uh-oh, y'all! @TexansCommenter on X/Twitter (real handle, not made up) says, "Skipping the opportunity to meet with players physically at the combine and then again with 30 visits is a choice."

Won't even dignify that with a response. Watch out for the next boldface of the word opportunity.

I'm a little sad we won't see Coen and Gladstone in Indy just for the sheer spectacle of it all. They're such funny characters.

I swear Sean McVay's delivery of speech rubs off on people in his orbit. Gladstone has some McVay vibes in his inflection. Maybe that's the actor nerd in me being a little too in the weeds about IRL line deliveries. Whatever.

Point I'm getting to here ties back to opportunity: The millennial Gladstone pulled up to his first meeting and dropped some Gen Z-coded dialogue on his new colleagues. He said that he did indeed, and I quoth, "appreciate this opp."

As in, you know, the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be an NFL general manager in his mid-30s.

"Appreciate this opp." LOL. Does anyone else find that hysterical?

Then who could forget Coen's ubiquitous, instantly-iconic opening press conference. Liam wowed spectators and NFL-affiliated folks across the globe when he let out the milquetoast dead fish handshake equivalent of the Jaguars' "DUUUUUUVAL!" battle cry.

I know @CoachspeakIndex was joking about the Jags going 0-17, but they went 13-4! How cool is that? Who gets the last laugh now!?

For real though, I need more Liam Coen and James Gladstone in my life. Shame on them for skipping the Combine! Just kidding. Again, not that big of a deal.