It feels like Jacksonville Jaguars' quarterback Trevor Lawrence is at a crossroads in his NFL career. The former Clemson football star is set to enter his fifth NFL season this fall and thanks to a contract extension, he's set to make $37,000,000 of guaranteed money this upcoming season making him one of the highest-paid players in the history of the sport.
What's more, Lawrence will have a new head coach guiding him this season. It is being reported that the Jaguars have settled on Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as their next head coach and his top task will be getting Lawrence to play at a Pro Bowl level.
Though no official word has come from the Jaguars, multiple sources, including Jenna Laine of ESPN are reporting that Coen is set to take over in Jacksonville. This brings to a close one of the more peculiar coaching searches in NFL history.
Breaking: Liam Coen has informed the Buccaneers that he is taking the Jaguars’ head coaching job, per @JennaLaineESPN. pic.twitter.com/KRPmmEDYYd
— ESPN (@espn) January 24, 2025
For weeks, Coen was widely considered the frontrunner for the Jaguars' job. He even interviewed with the organization and then-general manager Trent Baalke.
On Wednesday, though, it was reported that Coen removed himself from consideration for the job. This was a blow to the Jaguars as he was reportedly their top choice.
At the time, many speculated that Coen's decision was in direct correlation to his lack of interest in working for Baalke, who was widely considered one of the more inept general managers in the league.
However, on Thursday, the Jaguars announced that they had parted ways with Baalke. Then, on Friday, reports began to surface that Coen and the organization had come to an agreement to make him the head coach despite the fact that there is currently no general manager in place to oversee the Jaguars' football operations.
Regardless of how Coen got the job, though, one thing is clear, this is a move that has been made with Lawrence in mind. That's because Coen has a reputation for being able to turn around the careers of high-profile quarterbacks.
In his lone season in Tampa, he worked wonders with the former No. 1 overall pick. QB Baker Mayfield, who had his best season in the NFL in 2024. Tampa was 4th in the NFL in scoring at 29.5 points per game in the regular season.
Though Mayfield was solid last season, throwing for 4,044 yards and 28 TDs with 10 picks, he was fantastic under Coen's guidance. This season, he threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns while seeing his completion percentage rise from 64.3 in 2023 to 71.1 in 2024. Though he did throw 16 picks this year, he was still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFC and much of that was due to Coen's system.
Now, the question is whether or not Coen can have the same impact on Lawrence. This season, before a concussion ended his season early, Lawrence averaged a career-low 204.5 passing yards per game. That was down almost 50 yards from the previous season.
Additionally, his TD ratio of 11: 7 was the second-worst of his career. Only his rookie season of 2021 was worse in that regard. That year, he threw 12 TD passes but was intercepted 17 times.
Now, it is up to Coen to work the type of magic with Lawrence he did with Mayfield. In the process, he must find a way to ensure that Lawrence becomes a star. If that doesn't happen, Lawrence will be highly criticized as one of the most over-priced QBs in the game. However, if Coen and Lawrence can lead a turnaround in Jacksonville, then Lawrence will finally live up to the potential everyone has known that he's possessed since his days at Clemson.