Several NFL analysts have picked the Jacksonville Jaguars as a dark horse playoff team next season, but they'll need to answer a handful of questions to show that they're truly legit. After finishing 3-14 last year, Trevor Lawrence will try to bounce back from a year that limited him to 10 starts due to injury. But the 2025 version of this team will need a lot more than just a comeback season from the quarterback.
The massive talent of wide receivers Brian Thomas Jr and rookie Travis Hunter shows promise that Jacksonville will provide plenty of Sports Center highlights. However, the squad will need its new coach, his staff, and some veterans to lead the way to a potential turnaround.
The Jaguars' 39-year-old coach Liam Coen will have a lot to prove, as well. It's his first head coaching job in the league, and he's inheriting a team that has been seemingly 'on the brink of a breakthrough' for what feels like 5-6 years now. The fan base has grown restless. Coen needs to rally this team, and he will need the right allies around him if he expects to turn the Jags into contenders..
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The Jacksonville Jaguars are counting on Liam Coen to right the ship
Liam Coen was mostly brought in based on his work as an offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but also because he's considered a players' coach and a great communicator. He showed that right off the bat, at the beginning of Jacksonville's OTAs. It was a different vibe around Jags camp, and the media certainly took notice.
"So you go from Doug Peterson to Liam Coen, who, yeah, has only been an NFL offense coordinator for two years in his coaching career," Bryan Anthony Davis of Sports Illustrated wrote recently. "But last year in Tampa Bay, [he] significantly improved their offense, and he significantly improved it compared to a guy who got a head coaching job a year before."
Davis continued, "I think ultimately, Liam Coen has a lot to like as an innovator and a play-caller and a schemer, much more so than what the issues the Jaguars ran into with Doug Pederson, namely the play-calling issue. I don't think it was any secret that pretty much everybody else involved with the franchise wanted Doug Pederson to call plays last year, but he didn't, and it was one of the things that they ultimately didn't win."
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There's plenty of promise for the Jags in 2025
Obviously, Liam Coen is unproven as a head coach, but his arrival seems to have struck a positive chord with Jags Nation. Perhaps it's because of his unique demeanor. Or, possibly, because they have seen supposed 'top-level' coaches of the past drive the franchise into the dirt.
While there's no guarantee that the Lombardi Trophy will arrive in Jacksonville anytime soon, Coen's track record and work with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have provided a reason for hope. Many Jaguars backers echo the sentiment of SI writer Brian Anthony Davis: There is cohesiveness under Coen. At least, so far.
It will be interesting to see this new mix of chemistry when the Jaguars start training camp on July 23. All eyes will be on this unproven coach and underachieving team, who look to change both the attitude and the environment in Jacksonville.
And even though it's just the pre-season? It will give the fans a closer look at how much true leadership this team has... and whether it's enough to take the next step forward.
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