Liam Coen's dalliance with the Jaguars is headed for marriage.
The Jaguars and Coen continue to work toward a deal make him Jacksonville's next head coach, NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported late Thursday night.
Nothing will be finalized until Friday, but Coen has told assistant coaches he is planning to leave for Duval as all indications are a deal will be done.
The impending hiring follows a tumultuous couple of days in which Coen voluntarily pulled out of consideration for the job, choosing to instead return to the Buccaneers with a pay raise. Hours after Coen's decision to stay with the Bucs became public, the Jaguars fired general manager Trent Baalke, seemingly reopening an avenue to partner with Coen.
A day later, Coen was in Jacksonville visiting with the team while Tampa Bay brass was trying to get a hold of him. Coen did reach out to Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles, Pelissero reported. Eventually, he agreed to become their next coach, replacing Doug Pederson, who was fired on Jan. 6 after three seasons with the Jaguars.
With Baalke out of the picture, it seems Coen regained interest in the opening. Jacksonville's fascination with Coen was certainly understandable. Coen directed the Buccaneers to a top-four finish in total yards, passing yards and rushing yards per game in his first season as Tampa Bay's play-caller, helping Baker Mayfield reset his career-high marks in passing yards (4,500) and passing touchdowns (41) along the way.
Perhaps even more remarkable was the revival of Tampa Bay's rushing attack, which finished dead last in yards per game in 2023 and enjoyed an incredible turnaround in 2024, riding a three-man backfield headlined by rookie Bucky Irving to a fourth-place finish in rushing yards per game in 2024.
Although they're coached by a defensive-minded individual in Bowles, the Buccaneers became an offensive team in 2024 because of Coen's ability to extract the most from his players.
Irving's success (207 carries, 1,122 yards, eight rushing touchdowns) propelled him to the top of the depth chart in the second half of the season while returning back Rachaad White and previously unheralded bruiser Sean Tucker combined to chip in another 921 yards and five touchdowns. Mayfield even found success through the air without his top two targets -- Mike Evans and Chris Godwin -- leaning on the likes of tight end Cade Otton and budding star rookie Jalen McMillan to keep their offensive machine firing. Once Evans returned, he teamed up with Mayfield to lead the Buccaneers to another NFC South title, clearing the 1,000-yard receiving mark on the final play of the regular season.
Coen comes from the Sean McVay coaching tree, having spent time under McVay in Los Angeles before bouncing between the Rams and the University of Kentucky for a few seasons. When Dave Canales left Tampa to take the Panthers' top job in 2024, the Buccaneers turned to Coen to orchestrate the offense and enjoyed the fruits of his labor throughout 2024, watching Mayfield surpass his own ceiling previously set under Canales.
Those quick results were strong enough to convince the Jaguars that Coen was who they needed to pair with quarterback Trevor Lawrence in an effort to get the former No. 1 pick back on track, and thus, the entire Jaguars franchise. Jacksonville has been reeling since its second-half collapse to end the 2023 season, missing the playoffs in spectacular fashion and watching those negative results spill over into a 4-13 finish in 2024.
Those results left owner Shad Khan dissatisfied enough to fire Pederson, initially backing Baalke before reversing course and firing the GM in what now seems to have been an attempt to land Coen. In the end, it worked out for Khan's club, which now must hire a general manager capable of working in tandem with Coen to shape the Jaguars' future in his vision.
After signing Lawrence to an extension last offseason, that vision will include the Clemson product. The rest remains to be determined for the Jaguars, who will attempt to replicate the Buccaneers' success under the direction of their meteoric play-caller.
