Takeaways from Jaguars head coach Liam Coen’s NFL Combine media day

What we learned from Liam Coen’s multiple NFL Combine press conferences.

With their coaching staff now finalized, the Jacksonville Jaguars front office is in Indianapolis for the opening days of the 2025 NFL Combine. With head coach Liam Coen first to the stage, before new general manager James Gladstone, fans received an early opportunity to learn how the Jaguars brain-trust plans to build the team in their image.

Here are the top takeaways from Liam Coen’s inaugural NFL Combine various media availabilities:

1) Get ready to see BTJ moved all over the offense

Early on within his presser, Coen was asked about rookie sensation, Brian Thomas Jr and what his versatility brings to the offense. Liam quickly drew a line in the sand for all fantasy football owners that the days of drafting Thomas Jr later in fantasy drafts is over. The passing game will run through BTJ.

“He’s so dynamic, being able to move him around where you saw him in LSU, maybe not do some of those things, right? Where he was mostly outside, running more linear routes, vertical posts, some overs, and then the stop. So the ability for him to snap down, get in the slot, be able to run some of the choice routes, looky routes. And then, oh, by the way, you can throw him a screen and he can go do something with it. Our pass game, we’ll run through him and super excited to get to work with him.”

A larger issue for the prior offensive staff, these comments should be a breath of fresh air for Jaguars’ faithful. Brian Thomas was often lined up stagnant, outside throughout much of the earlier portions of the 2024 season. Only later in the season, after injuries to Gabe Davis, Christian Kirk, and Evan Engram did the team begin to move BTJ around the field. Unsurprisingly, this usage resulted in an average of 101 total yards per game over the final seven games, while scoring five touchdowns.

2) Trevor Lawrence’s development and process will be key to team success

The Jaguars head coach was also asked about the development of the most important position on the field, the quarterback where he laid out the differences from his time with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback, Baker Mayfield, comparatively.

“The development of Baker will be different than Trevor. It just will be because of the different type of player. But you see a lot of the same intangibles in terms of the work ethic, the want to. He wants to be great. He wants to be coached hard. And the process, like how do we get him on a schedule, a process every single day that he can follow to get him to the point that he feels like he’s playing at a higher level?”

He later continued:

“How do we create a little bit of sameness to give him a schedule? Hey, Mondays, this is what we want. Look for your daily rhythm. Tuesdays within the season with third downs. As we start to move towards red zone, how do we kind of connect with him to have a schedule? I think that’s the consistency that we’re gonna try to create for him.”

In teaching Lawrence a new playbook, Coen was adamant that a clear process would need to be outlined for the team’s QB1 to have the right surrounding structure to be successful. Coen made no mistake in his words; the team will go as Lawrence goes, noting that he would solicit Lawrence’s input in building out the roster, when warranted.

“We want to have Trevor’s input. He is our guy, he’s the franchise. And as much as we can involve him in the process without maybe putting too much on his plate, he’s a new father, now a husband. He’s just getting into it, but he’s hungry. He’s hungry, he wants to be playing at the highest level possible. And how do we include him in some of those conversations, specifically with some of the skilled players and obviously on the offensive line. So, he will definitely be involved in some of that while just being mindful of not putting too much on him because he’s gonna be learning a completely new system and having to go through a new transition again.”

3) The ‘younger’ coaching staff was not a mistake

While much ado has been made about the age of the Jaguars coaching staff and front office, Coen seemed to lean into the build as being more purposeful for a forward-thinking organization. When asked, the head coach has this to say about the staff that he has brought in:

"Yeah, hunger, hunger, want to. Guys that are trying to prove it, guys that want to continue to ascend throughout the profession. I think that we have plenty of experience to get this thing done. I believe in the staff that we built. I got (Los Angeles Rams head coach) Sean McVay, I've got (Vikings head coach) Kevin O'Connell. I've got a lot of guys that we can go and call in times of crisis that are gonna be more than welcome to some of those conversations. And then you've got experience throughout the staff and we do have experience. We have a lot of guys that have been in the trenches in some really productive organizations. There's not one coach that we hired that didn't have another opportunity."

With the addition of multiple coaches with 15+ years of coaching experience, including those listed above and former 13-year NFL defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan, the team looks to have much in the name of experience, per Coen.

4) “Players, not plays” means adaptable coaching will be a must in Jacksonville

When discussing the coaching staff’s mentality in teaching this group, Coen touched on a most important trait of coaching in the modern NFL, the ability for coaches to adapt in their scheme and teaching techniques to meet players where they are.

“It’s the adaptability, right? We will have a core foundation and principles of how we want to, you know, operate, right? Our modes of operation, the way that our culture is going to be set, the non-negotiables, right? That’s the foundation of what we believe, but like I’ve said in multiple different conversations, it’s about players, not plays, right?

We will have the core principles and how we want to play, our style of play, but ultimately, it’s our job to pivot and be able to adapt to players, especially when it comes to the draft. Because you want to be able to fill your holes, but also take the best players available, and it’s our job to be able to adapt to some of those players.”

The inflexibility of the prior coaching staffs’ scheme became a major talking point throughout the 2024 NFL season, with Jacksonville becoming one of the most predictable of NFL teams in terms of offensive alignment, offensive motion usage, offensive play-action use, and route distribution. Defensively, they were similarly inflexible in blitz rate, stunt rate, and what coverages they chose to play. Hearing this from the head man in charge is in every way evidence of a new philosophy in Duval.

5) Injuries will happen; how the team pivots from them will be key

The Jaguars have now seen back-to-back seasons with the team crumbling in the face of adversity via offensive and defensive injuries. Coen spoke on how he’s found a way to lead groups to success despite those offensive limitations in past stops:

“Last year, we lose two of our best receivers in Tampa and credit the process to just kind of, hey, put our heads down. It’s our job as coaches to go play with the best, the players that we have and be able to pivot. That was the learning experience that we had there, that we have to be able to pivot, be able to supplement that production maybe with a different group of players. It might be Mike (Buccaneer’s WR Mike Evans) and Chris’s (Chris Godwin) production ended up having to become a little bit more developed through the running back room, the tight end room. Obviously, the quarterback being able to play off schedule. So, we learned so much from that year. And it was really just, do we have the ability to pivot and be able to kind of supplement some of that production through different avenues and different players?”

6) Ethan Waugh has been a critical piece in evaluating the current roster (Action Sports Jax)

When asked about the importance of the team’s scouting process over the past few weeks, Coen was quick to give praise to Interim General Manager Ethan Waugh and his role in managing the team and also filling in any player personnel evaluation gaps.

"Ethan has been a great sounding board, obviously knowing the roster, right? Knowing the dynamics of some of the players, the evaluation process that led them to Jacksonville, whether it will be free agency trade or draft acquisition. So he's got a great pulse on that. And he's got a lot of experience that we've been able to lean on throughout the last couple of weeks. He's been nothing but supportive. So I've been pleased with him so far."

As we discussed throughout Jacksonville’s general manager hiring cycle, Interim General Manager Ethan Waugh has extensive scouting experience from his time in San Francisco as their Midwest Area Scout from 2008 - 2011 when San Francisco drafted All-Pro guard Mike Iupati out of Idaho (17th pick), QB Colin Kaepernick out of Nebraska (2nd round trade up), and Edge Aldon Smith out of Missouri (seventh pick) from his region. Leveraging Ethan in getting up to speed on the current state of the roster would seem to be a wise pick by the first-year head coach.

7) James Gladstone’s history with Coen speeds up acclimation period for staff (Action Sports Jax)

With the hire of Los Angeles Rams Director of Scouting, James Gladstone as the new Jaguars General Manager, the head coach and Gladstone in many ways were in immediate alignment. When discussing his process for getting the staff and personnel on the same page in bringing in “his type” of personnel, Coen seemed to indicate something similar.

"I think the hire that we just made bridges that gap a lot quicker than maybe if we would have gone in a different direction. Just what we're looking for, the type of players that we want to bring into this ecosystem, into this organization, there's automatic alignment. Are we going to disagree? Absolutely. We're going to have different opinions. Absolutely. But knowing where James is coming from, and that collaboration between coaches and personnel, I think has been just a critical bridge that automatically makes it a little bit easier for us to have those conversations and know the type of players that we're trying to go and bring into this organization."

With both Gladstone and Coen coming from the same Sean McVay and Les Sneed system, much of their thought processes on evaluation process, player type, and systems may already overlap. However, it through their interview process, it seems that many of the high level perspectives are shared between the two, resulting in synchronicity with little explanation needed from Coen. Gladstone mentioned something similar during his introductory press conference.

8) Receivers coach, Edgar Bennett’s resume spoke for itself (Action Sports Jax)

While much of the incoming staff seemed to have direct or indirect past working associations to the Sean McVay tree, former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver coach Edgar Bennett was hired this offseason as Jacksonville’s receivers coach despite having no direct working relationship with Coach Coen.

"No, we didn’t (have a relationship with Edgar). I had a lot of unsolicited conversations with people about EB, the leader, the consistency, the mentor, the ability. He’s been a coordinator in the past and obviously been in variations of the system. Coach Gruen ended up hiring him, I think, with the Raiders first and foremost when it got there. But the experience piece, former player from the area, he’s so happy to be in Jacksonville. You see it every day when you walk by his office. He’s so proud to be here."

The Jacksonville native, Lee High School graduate, and former Florida State University fullback has 21 years of NFL coaching experience, with the past seven as the Las Vegas Raiders’ receivers coach. We previously profiled Bennett in the finalized coaching roster breakdown here.

9) Roster will become more physical (via Action Sports Jax)

When discussing the addition of incoming Director of Strength and Conditioning, Eric Ciano Coen noted his want for this Jacksonville team develop into a more physical group, leading to the hire of the former Buffalo Bills Strength and Conditioning Director.

"Eric Siano has been very well respected throughout this profession for the last, obviously, 15 years. He’s a Springfield College grad. A ton of those guys have really gone on and ascended throughout the strength and conditioning world. Just the veteran experience, right? Everybody’s talking about young and inexperienced. Well, I felt like it was kind of critical more so just in there to get somebody that’s done it for a long time. Hey, we have to get through the AFC, right? We’re going to have to go play physical. And I think that that was something that we look to maybe develop a little bit more in terms of that mentality, how we want to play the game, our style and brand of football. He was critical to that hire."

10) Miller Electric Center provides Jax with virtual training advantages

When asked about his opinion of virtual reality training for in-game preparations, Coach Coen mentioned something that seems to have been new information for much of the fanbase, in that the Jaguars currently have a virtual walkthrough room in Jacksonville that is able to be used by team personnel.

“I really believe that if that’s something that’s going to help our guys and you want to make that tool available, we have the benefit of being kind of at the forefront of some of those things with T.K., [Chief Football Strategy Officer] Tony Khan, and Shad [Owner Shad Khan] wanting to be able to provide every opportunity that we can have. I don’t have a very strong opinion on it, but I do think it’s something I’d be open to for sure. We have kind of a virtual walkthrough room in Jacksonville that I’ve never had in any of the buildings I’ve been in. So, I’m really excited about kind of being able to utilize some of those rooms, get into that for some of the VR training, but not maybe with the goggles on.”

In my time in the Miller Electric Center, the stadium, and the virtual tours online of the facility, I honestly was not aware of this room. This feels like something that could be a competitive advantage for the Jaguars, as Coen mentioned, it’s not something that all NFL franchises have that we’re privy to in Jacksonville.

For those not in attendance or unable to catch the airings live, you can catch the full interviews on demand below:

Jaguars.com (from the podium)

Action Sports Jax

Jaguars.com (1-on-1)

1010xl (1-on-1)

What were your thoughts or takeaways from Liam Coen’s NFL combine pressers? Let us know in the comments!