What has made Jacksonville Jaguars' head coach Liam Coen successful at his previous stops, specifically when working with the quarterback position?
LA Rams' head coach Sean McVay provided some insight during the NFL's annual league meeting. Coen coached under McVay during two different stints, the second of which he was the offensive coordinator.
As McVay described, Coen's background of playing the quarterback position himself at a high level--Coen played the position at Massachusetts in college--gives him a better understanding of what the quarterbacks he is coaching are going through, which in turn, helps him adjust to what they need.
"It's so difficult (the quarterback position) and then when you have people who understand what that entails, I just think there's an ability to say, 'Alright, how can I make the most difficult position as easy as possible? How can I have an understanding of exactly what they're going through?'
"I think that's why you saw Baker (Mayfield) play at such a high level. We saw Will Levis when he was coaching at Kentucky play at such a high level, and I expect him to do the same thing with Trevor (Lawrence)."
In many respects, Baker Mayfield had a career year in 2024, his lone season with Coen calling the plays. As McVay mentions, Coen also coached Will Levis during his 2021 season, which included Levis throwing for 2,827 yards with 24 touchdowns while completing 65.9% of his passes--all career-highs, according to PFF.
As the head coach, Coen's job is all-encompassing, but at the top of the to-do list is getting Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars' passing game back on track.
Coen's understanding of the quarterback position, as McVay details, will play a crucial role in accomplishing that. As will his overall offensive scheme that marries the running and passing games together and brings multiplicity to the gameplan, which keeps defenses off-balance, and takes some of the workload off of Lawrence.
This article originally appeared on Jaguars Wire: NFL league meetings: Sean McVay on Jaguars' Liam Coen working with QBs
