For The Win
The Jacksonville Jaguars need a head coach.
The top two candidates in the 2025 hiring cycle barely paid them any mind. Mike Vrabel marinated over the course of a year as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns before returning to the New England Patriots to guide Drake Maye. Ben Johnson finally cashed in his chips as the league’s foremost rising young coordinator to work with Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears.
The Jaguars, in theory, can offer similar benefits. They’ve got Trevor Lawrence waiting for a hero. Brian Thomas Jr. looks like a perennial Pro Bowl candidate after a stellar rookie campaign. There’s potential here.
That potential does not outweigh the proven negatives that come with the job. On Wednesday, rumored top target Liam Coen examined the situation and told Jacksonville “nah, I’m good” in order to return to his spot as offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Breaking: #Buccaneers OC Liam Coen will remain in Tampa Bay — and no longer be in the mix for the #Jaguars head coaching job, per sources (as @AdamSchefter reported).
Coen will be one of the highest-paid coordinations in the NFL. Big news for Baker Mayfield and the Tampa offense.
— Jordan Schultz (@schultzreport.bsky.social) January 22, 2025 at 9:20 AM
This would have been a massive promotion from an assistant who was calling plays at the University of Kentucky in 2023. Coen’s star has fluctuated in nearly two decades as an assistant but has never been higher than it is today. That momentum isn’t guaranteed to last. The Jaguars’ head coaching job, whether it was about to be offered or not, may be the closest he comes to commanding an NFL franchise.
He said no. It was the right decision.
Jacksonville has been a tapestry of dysfunction since its inception, but never been more intricately woven than under the stewardship of franchise owner Shad Khan. In his 13 years at the helm, the Jags have won exactly three playoff games — mostly in a defense-led roll through the 2016 postseason that served as a brief rebuttal to four seasons worth of The Good Place jokes. His team’s overall record is 64-148. The average Khan season ends with fewer than five wins.
In a league defined by parity, Jacksonville remains anchored by chains of its own making. The Jaguars have had a top five draft pick eight times in the Khan era. The players selected with that premium draft position have made it to eight Pro Bowls. Take away Jalen Ramsey’s contributions and you’re down to one (Lawrence). Then you’re left with good-not-great players like Dante Fowler, Luke Joeckel and Leonard Fournette.
This isn’t a function of bad luck. This is a franchise with a huge tolerance toward [expletive] roster building. David Caldwell got eight seasons as the team’s general manager (three of them with help. We’ll get to it later). He drafted Ramsey. He also torched high value picks with selections like...
