New Jaguars head coach Liam Coen will continue to call plays, mold offense around QB Trevor Lawrence

The Jacksonville Jaguars welcomed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as their new head coach on Monday, and he confirmed he will maintain a key component of why he was hired as their head coach. 

“Yes, we’ll absolutely be calling football plays,” Coen said when asked if he would be the team’s offensive play-caller. 

Tampa Bay’s 2024 offense thrived under Coen: the Buccaneers had the league’s No. 4 scoring offense (29.5 points per game) and No. 3 total offense (399.6 yards per game). Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, the 2018 NFL Draft’s top overall pick by the Cleveland Browns, produced career highs in completion percentage (71.4%), passing yards (4,500), passing yards per attempt (7.9), passing touchdowns (41) and passer rating (106.8) — all while bringing Coen’s playbook to life in 2024.

Now, Coen’s task is to maximize the potential of another first overall pick in the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, who went No. 1 in the 2021 NFL Draft. 

“How do we make Trevor Lawrence and this offense as dynamic and explosive as we can be? We’ve got to build it around him as well. We’ve got to make every part of this about improvement, and he will be a part of that process,” Coen said Monday. “He’s earned that right. I cannot respect his toughness and mentality and work ethic more than I do already from afar. This will all be about Trevor right now.”

Lawrence entered the NFL as one of the most heralded quarterback prospects in recent memory after leading the Clemson Tigers to consecutive national championship games in 2018 and 2019, including winning it all in 2018. The first task for Coen and whoever the Jaguars new general manger will be has to be simply keeping Lawrence upright by reinforcing his offensive line.

The 25-year-old Lawrence played a career-low 10 games in 2024 after suffering an AC joint sprain (shoulder) and a concussion. That was following a 2023 campaign in which he also battled both of those injuries as well as a high ankle sprain and a knee sprain.