Jaguars HC Liam Coen Talks Trevor, Travis & Season Expectations I Full Interview I Rich Eisen Show

Only one coach in Jacksonville Jaguars history has won more games in a season than Liam Coen did last year, and that is Tom Coughlin, with 14.

Coen came on in the middle of roster cuts, which he described as collaborative and relentless, with James Gladstone's personnel group constantly hunting upgrades internally while watching what shakes loose elsewhere.

Rich opened somewhere unusual for a division winner, which is the backup quarterback job, because Jacksonville just acquired Quinn Ewers from Miami two weeks before the season.

Coen was straightforward that onboarding him is a challenge, and equally clear about why they did it. He followed Ewers closely at Texas and interviewed him coming out of the draft. He liked him then and liked what Ewers put on tape in Miami last year when he got opportunities, including a win over Tampa at home.

"He's got arm talent, that's for sure."

Nick Mullens and Joey Aguilar are in the room helping get him up to speed, with quarterbacks coach Spencer Whipple handling the bulk of it while Coen focuses on Trevor Lawrence heading into the opener.

On Lawrence, the thing Coen believes they unlocked is not a scheme wrinkle. It is subtraction.

"When Trevor keeps it simple, goes through a read, and then hey man, he doesn't like it, he has the opportunity and athleticism to use his legs as a weapon."

Coen thinks the risk in year two of a system, especially for a quarterback who has been through multiple systems, is trying to do too much. His message is to be himself, use the arm, and not forget the legs, which paid off enormously in the red zone last season.

He also made the point from the other sideline, which is more persuasive. His own defensive staff hates preparing for a quarterback who can extend plays and get out of the pocket.

Asked how Lawrence functions as an extension of him, Coen went to preparation, and to credit he thinks his quarterback does not receive.

Jacksonville asks a great deal of the position. Protections, kills, Oscars, alerts, all before anyone snaps the ball and executes a play. Lawrence works at it.

What Coen kept returning to was leadership.

"This is his team. And I want it to be that way. We all do."

The relationship extends past the building. They spent real time together this spring, and Coen was at the Super Bowl when Lawrence was up for Comeback Player of the Year, where he saw a different side of him, the fundraising and volunteer obligations and what Lawrence and his family have built in Jacksonville.

On Brian Thomas Jr., coming off a step back from his rookie year, Coen sounded genuinely energized.

Thomas has attacked the offseason since the spring, locked in from OTAs, taking coaching on development areas while leaning into what he already does well. The chemistry piece matters too, because in 2024 the two barely played together with Lawrence hurt for much of it.

"When he's playing at a high level, our offense is just different."

Then Travis Hunter, and Rich did not hide his agenda.

Yes, Coen said, Hunter will be packaged on offense. The increase in his defensive workload is a function of where the defense needs consistency, and Coen has told him plainly what the target is.

"We want you to be a game wrecker. We want other teams to put you on their list as somebody that they have to prepare for."

Rich pushed on the growing narrative that the two-way experiment is finished.

"I'd say not so fast," Coen said. "Let's pump the brakes and just give the guy a chance to get back."

He would not commit to a rep count. He would commit to the principle, which is that Hunter is a playmaker they want the ball going to, and that people might extend some grace for a serious injury and the work required to come back from it.

"I can't coach some of the things he can do with the ball."

Asked how much of his job is managing Hunter's own expectations, given a competitor who wants every snap the way he had them in Colorado, Coen reframed it as the reason they traded up.

The two-way ability was a huge part of it. The larger part was the human being, the competitor, the play style, the energy. Coen says the room lights up when Hunter walks in.

"We're going to work with him to get to being a two-way player that he wants to be. We all want to see it."

The running back room lost Travis Etienne to New Orleans, and Coen refused the replacement framing entirely. They cannot replace what Etienne did at times, and they are not going to ask anyone to try, because these are different players. What he wants is consistency and efficiency.

He praised Chris Rodriguez, someone he has worked with before, for bringing thump and the difficult hard yards the league demands, and singled out his third-down back and pass protector as a savage. Ameer Abdullah, a 12-year veteran, sets the example in the room and still has juice.

"I think it's a room that's going to maybe surprise some people."

The interview's most enjoyable stretch came when Rich admitted he had spent time before the show counting Caleb Williams photographs on the NFL Network site and arrived at roughly 40, with no Jaguars in sight.

Coen took the point rather than the bait.

"We can't control the narrative," he said. The team motto is anyone, anytime, anywhere, and the respect goes to every opponent and to his own locker room.

He does not expect to sneak up on anybody after winning the division, and he thinks the answer is internal. He also thinks Jacksonville's climate is a genuine edge, that training in that weather builds a mental and physical advantage his team can lean on walking into hostile buildings, starting at Denver in week two.

Rich closed by going past the schedule entirely. The Super Bowl is in Los Angeles, where Coen was once part of the Rams staff, and where the Rams are now expected to be after Aaron Donald's return. What would it mean to take Jacksonville to its first Super Bowl, possibly against them?

Coen gave the honest version rather than the emotional one.

"Our guys have confidence that we are a good football team, but we have to go prove it."

What he is actually hunting, he said, is a respectable product that the fan base, community and ownership can be proud of. A good year last season is great and does not carry forward.

"Nobody's going to give you anything."