Liam Coen’s latest remarks pour cold water on Jaguars’ rivalry with Robert Saleh

Since becoming the head coach in 2025, Liam Coen has given the Jacksonville Jaguars the toughness they had been missing for years. He showcased some of that feistiness when he confronted then-defensive coordinator Robert Saleh after the Jags beat the San Francisco 49ers last year.

Now, Saleh is the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, which should, in theory, turn the rivalry with Jacksonville a notch. However, Coen just downplayed the feud and says it's all good.

Jaguars HC Liam Coen is excited about Robert Saleh joining the Titans

Liam Coen made an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show during Super Bowl Week and said that he's thrilled to have Robert Saleh in the AFC South, noting that the Titans made the right call when they hired him. Here's the skinny.

"We were just texting. That's the beautiful part of it," Coen told Pat McAfee. "It is awesome, I mean, what a cool move by Tennessee. Seriously, just to get another quality defensive head coach in this league that gets defense to run around that way. It's fun for us, you want to play the best, you want to come in. That's no different for coaches. There's no difference. You want to beat your peers. You want to be better than everybody.

Coen's feud with Saleh originally began when the latter accused the former of "legally stealing signals," arguing that the Jags excelled at it. That led the Jaguars head coach to confront Saleh after the win over the Niners, demanding that he take his name out of his mouth. The situation escalated quickly."

Saleh apologized in the aftermath, acknowledging that he used the wrong words when he was trying to heap praise on Coen.

Tennessee made Saleh their head coach earlier this year after ousting Brian Callahan in 2025. So far, the hire has gotten mostly positive reviews. Now, Coen will get to face him twice a year when the Jaguars play the Titans.

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Liam Coen and the Jaguars will be ready to take on Robert Saleh's Titans

Of course, it would've been great to see Liam Coen take the rivalry to cartoonish levels of villainy. But as much as he may or may not dislike Coen, he also respects his peers. And that's a good thing.

Coen is tough, and he'll definitely go to bat for his players when he feels disrespected. But he's also classy and knows when to turn down the switch. Heck, you have probably seen that Coen is different on the field and off of it. When it's game time, he's as intense as they come. However, he's polite beyond words when he makes appearances on TV or speaks to reporters.

Having said that, the switch will go on every time the Jaguars play the Titans moving forward. And you can bet that Liam Coen will have a heated exchange or two with Robert Saleh. That's how rivalries go.