The Doug Pederson era of Jacksonville Jaguars football is over. The team fired Pederson on Monday morning after an abysmal season that saw the Jags finish with a 4-13 record. The Pederson era started off promising enough with the team winning an AFC South title, winning a playoff game, and taking the Chiefs down to the wire in the divisional round.
Unfortunately, it was all downhill from there and it was clear this season that Pederson's time as the Jaguars head coach needed to be nearing the end. While some Jags fans might be hoping for the team to land red-hot candidate Ben Johnson, a new name has emerged as the betting favorite.
That name would be Liam Coen, who is the Buccaneers offensive coordinator (and served as the Rams offensive coordinator in 2022). The Jaguars put in an interview request with Coen on Tuesday and it's not hard to see why they'd be interested in Coen considering how explosive the Bucs' offense was this past season.
Liam Coen has emerged as the favorite for the Jaguars head coaching job
The Jaguars are an attractive destination for a few different reasons. One is that the team has talent on the roster and Trevor Lawrence at quarterback. Another is that the AFC South is a very weak division. Whoever comes in should be able to turn things around quickly and get the Jags back to the top of the AFC South.
Coen started his NFL coaching career in 2018 with the Rams, serving as the assistant wide receivers coach for two years before moving over to the assistant quarterbacks coach role in 2020. He jumped back and forth from the Rams and the Kentucky Wildcats beginning in 2021 after he was named the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the collegiate program for the 2021 season. He then jumped back to the Rams and was their offensive coordinator in 2022 before heading back to Lexington to take his old job back in 2023.
Then, as we know, he's now with the Buccaneers and has helped lead the Bucs offense to an explosive season. Tampa's offense finished third in total yards and fourth in points this season, which is impressive considering they lost Dave Canales last offseason and had to replace him. We've seen now that Coen is capable of doing a nice job running an offense and for him, having Lawrence and Brian Thomas Jr. as pieces to work with has to be an enticing thought.