Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports that the Buccaneers believe Liam Coen will be taking the Jaguars head coaching job.
According to Dianna Russini, the situation involving Coen changed after Jaguars’ ownership called him directly and said that they would allow him to pick the next general manager of the team.
Sources tell Russini that the Jaguars told Coen that they would pay him “Ben Johnson” level money over multiple years.
Prior reports mentioned that speculation around the NFL is that the Bears are paying new HC Ben Johnson around $13 million per year.
Coen withdrew from consideration for the Jaguars’ job earlier in the week, but it seemed as though the Jaguars could still make another run at hiring.
What’s odd is that Coen apparently didn’t keep the Buccaneers in the loop as the situation with the Jaguars progressed on Thursday.
Rick Stroud reported earlier that Coen contacted head coach Todd Bowles around 5 pm EST on Thursday and said he had been with one of his kids, who was taken to the doctor for being sick. Stroud added that he mentioned the Jaguars’ situation only briefly and said he wanted to look back into it.
Coen, 39, got his start in college coaching at Brown in 2010 working with quarterbacks. He had stints at Rhode Island, UMass, Maine, and Brown again before making the jump to the NFL as an assistant WR coach with the Rams in 2018.
He moved to assistant QB coach in 2020, then was hired away by Kentucky as their offensive coordinator in 2021. The Rams hired him as offensive coordinator for the 2023 season but he opted to return to Kentucky as their offensive coordinator/QBs coach.
He made his return to the NFL in 2024 when the Buccaneers hired him as their offensive coordinator.
In 2024, the Buccaneers’ offense ranked No. 3 in total yards per game, No. 4 in points scored per game, No. 4 in rushing yards per game, and No. 3 in passing yards per game.
We’ll have more on the Jaguars’ coaching search as the news is available.
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