The Jacksonville Jaguars hit it out of the ballpark when they hired Liam Coen as their head coach in 2025. In just his first season at the helm, he spearheaded a cultural shift and turned the Jags into one of the hottest teams in the NFL. One big reason for his success was that he knew what buttons to push to get the most out of his players. And there's no doubt that the biggest beneficiary was Trevor Lawrence.
Although the former Clemson Tiger was a bit inconsistent to start the season, he played at a top-10 level once he settled. And just recently, Lawrence credited Coen's detailed play for his surge in 2025.
Trevor Lawrence says Liam Coen put a detailed plan with the Jaguars to help him succeed
Trevor Lawrence had a sitdown with Jim Rome in Super Bowl Week. He talked about his relationship with Liam Coen and the plan he put in place to get the most out of him, noting that they had honest conversations throughout the process.
"We got a great relationship. We connected early on when he first got the job, and we've just built that right away from Day 1," Lawrence told Rome. "And I think the way he communicates, he's super honest. We had a lot of real conversations in the offseason about, look, 'I know when I'm capable of as a player. I know I'm a great player. There's all these things that I could do and should be doing, maybe, whatever everybody says out there, but how can we make that click? What are the improvements I need to make?"
Lawrence continued, "And we had a lot of conversations about there's things that I had down like this is what I know I need to get better at. And they were really in line with Liam, the things that he was thinking, because he's watched all my tape every year before. He came in, and we went through talks of just like, 'This is what we need to work on. This is what we need to change, so we need to get better at.' And him sitting me down and us talking about that. When you can start a relationship that way of being honest, like you don't have to come in and just tell me how great you think I am."
"I know I need to get better. And tell me what I need to hear, not what you think I want. Especially this point in my career, I was going off my fourth year, not a great season. I was hurt, and we needed something that's like, 'Alright, what's the way forward? What are we going to do?' And the plan was, was great, it was super detailed. He had a plan in place, full trust and buy-in, in the system."
Later in the exchange, Lawrence said that the end result was evident when the Jags made the playoffs and won the AFC South.
Under Coen, Lawrence completed 60.9 percent of his throws for 4,007 yards with 29 touchdowns and just interceptions. He also scored eight rushing touchdowns. On top of that, he was a nominee for Comeback Player of the Year and MVP in the NFL Honors. Although he came up short, the fact that he earned consideration went on to show just how much he improved.
The Jaguars should expect Trevor Lawrence to take another step in Year 2 of the Liam Coen era
Before Liam Coen took over, Trevor Lawrence had shown flashes of the talent that made him the first overall pick in 2021. However, he wasn't able to consistently turn it into top-end production. That led to questions about his future. It's fair to say that he's put the noise to rest.
It wasn't always pretty, as Lawrence had to fix his footwork, rehab his shoulder, and learn the most complex scheme he had been in his career. That's no easy task, but he somehow managed to pull it off.
Now, Lawrence will get to work with mostly the same coaching staff for the second year in a row, for the first time in his career. Based on how things played out in 2025, expecting him to take his game to the next level isn't unrealistic.