Pairing of Jaguars and Liam Coen creates massive intrigue (for better or worse)

After failing to make the playoffs twice and progressively getting worse the past two years, the Jacksonville Jaguars dismissed Doug Pederson. After an extensive search, they hired Liam Coen to replace him. Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports has been paying close attention and wants to see how his tenure with the Jags will play out.

Daugherty recently ranked nearly all the head coaches in the NFL, with the exceptions of those who were hired in the last cycle. Regarding Coen, he wants to see what he does for the Jaguars, pointing out that he might've been their best possible option after missing out on Ben Johnson.

"Jacksonville is a situation that called for the head coach to essentially operate as the QBs coach, and that’s what Coen will be. We have no idea if it will work because both coach and quarterback enter 2025 with an uncomfortable amount of variance. One or both could be just not good. The same is true for the opposite. Coen took a winding, wincing path to get here. Lawrence, 25, has already experienced the highest highs and lowest lows. Whatever they produce together is going to be spectacular. Now it’s time to find out if that means success or failure."

All things considered, that's not a ringing endorsement, but Daugherty's skepticism is understandable. Leaving aside that this is the first time Coen is a head coach at the NFL level, he hasn't spent more than a year at one stop since 2021. Granted, he went back and forth between the Los Angeles Rams and Kentucky, but you will be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn't had a good experience working with him.

In fact, Rams head coach Sean McVay had nothing but good things to say about Coen at the NFL Owners Meeting. On the other hand, he's only partially responsible for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive turnaround in 2024.

Dave Canales had already begun to fix Baker Mayfield one year prior, and the cupboard wasn't precisely bare when Coen took over. That said, he most definitely deserves praise for getting the running game going. Under Canales, the Bucs had the worst rushing attack in the league, so there's no doubt that Coen's presence made an impact.

Why Liam Coen will get the Jaguars going in 2025

Of course, you can make everything sound bad if you spend the whole day shuffling words around. This is to say that you can nitpick the Liam Coen hire, but if the Jacksonville Jaguars weren't confident he could steer the ship in the right direction, they wouldn't have hired him.

Sure, you can point out that the way he left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wasn't the best. But the truth is that the Jaguars offered him an opportunity of a lifetime, and most coaches would've done the same. Heck, this should now be a footnote in his NFL career. With this in mind, it would be a good idea to focus on the positive.

So far, Trevor Lawrence and other Jaguars players are thrilled about Coen's arrival. Moreover, his approach to practices and meetings is a breath of fresh air. He's got a proven track record of getting the most out of his quarterbacks and offenses. The difference is that he'll have to apply his philosophy at a team level, and that's where questions about his viability as a head coach rightly arise.

But if everything goes according to plan, Coen will get the most out of Lawrence and get the Jags back on track. One thing working in his favor is that expectations are somewhat low ahead of the 2025 season. Given that he has ample talent to work with and the front office has spent the offseason making upgrades, nobody will bat an eye if they turn heads.

If that ends up happening, Liam Coen will deserve a high spot in Daugherty's head coaching rankings.

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