Liam Coen Situation

I will preface this by saying that I don't see why any coach would stay as a coordinator when head coach opportunities are available to them. I get not walking into a completely dysfunctional franchise, but the fact of the matter is that the Jags are really not even remotely close to the worst situation to walk into in the league.

They have a top 15 QB in T-Law, and although he is grossly overpaid, the market for that position makes no sense. The only way for it to stop is for teams to start letting their QBs walk if they can see with a big contract that they cannot build the proper team around them to win. When CJ Stroud resets the market, Sam Darnold gets about 50 million, and others continue to make numbers that seem to be counterproductive to being great, you will come to understand that Lawrence at 55 million a year is not that crazy.

Ultimately, the team has weapons with Tank and Brian Robinson Jr. They lost 10 one-possession games this year, showing they have an ability to compete, won a playoff game two years ago with the QB they have now, and were extremely competitive in 2023, starting out 8-3 but missing the playoffs after ending 9-8. Sure, this is the franchise that had the Urban Meyer situation, which was messy, and Doug, I do believe, does not get enough credit for how he brought the team back in just one year. But the truth is, this team is in a position to be a contender now. They may have had a shit season, but the AFC South isn't some big mountain to climb and is probably the easiest division to capture in the league.

The only stipulation that seemed to stop any coach from going to the Jags was Trent Baalke, who should have been fired the year he hired Urban Meyer and almost burned the franchise to the ground. He drove Jim Harbaugh out of the league when he was in San Fran, and his reputation stayed with him—no serious candidate would work with him. It drove away Ben, it drove away Liam (LOL), and it started to make you wonder who they would be stuck with. Another desperate veteran coach who could do maybe enough to keep you relevant for two years till they are cycled out (Jon Gruden or Mike McCarthy?), or even worse, they get Robert Saleh.

I think Saleh was handed an extremely unfair situation, but the Jets were and are a talented team. He gave up on Zach Wilson before it started, and that lack of trust in your young QB makes it impossible for them to even start to thrive look at Flores and Tua. Also, how many coaches get a job after legitimately accomplishing nothing in their last job with a 20-36 record? The glazing of Kyle Shanahan and his former staffers needs to stop as well; the team was stacked anytime he has been successful. Saleh is right where he belongs, returning to the Niners, but before he gets a chance again as a HC, we need to see how Aaron Glenn does. If the mess can be fixed, then obviously the finger has to be pointed back at the guy who could have been a source of some of the problems.

But what does any of this have to do with Liam Coen? Most of it nothing, but the Trent Baalke part does, a little bit of Saleh, and just a tiny smidge of T-Law. On the 22nd, Coen said fuck off to the Jags, to Baalke, to Shad Khan, and took his ball and went to Old Man Todd Bowles and company in Tampa to become the highest-paid coordinator in the league and the apparent heir to the throne in Tampa. Liam would have been making more money than what Todd was reported, but with the recency of what these guys have been getting, yeah, I don't know, the coaching market is crazy. But to think, as an offensive coordinator, he could make as much as Dan Campbell and even more than the guy in charge of him is confusing.

The fact is, I am not sure how many decisions Todd Bowles even makes, and I guarantee he has no impact on what happens on the offensive side of the ball. It was probably a more collaborative approach to coaching than any of us could even imagine. But despite having 4.5 million reasons why to go back to Tampa, in a great situation where he was loved, even after he said he was out of the job he interviewed for, out of nowhere less than a day ago, Adam Schefter reported that Coen was in Jacksonville meeting with the Jags in secret, and no one in the Bucs organization had a clue nor could even get ahold of him.

But wait, I guess it also came out that he told Todd Bowles personally that he was considering the Jaguars still. But wait again, Coen told Bowles he was at the doctors with his sick child and vaguely popped in that he was still thinking about the Jaguars job while he was actively meeting with the Jaguars. But wait, this dude said he didn't have time to be a head coach due to having a sick child at home a month ago.

My head hurts, and I am not sure about the mind game on Coen's end, but he seems to have gotten exactly what he wanted which is a head coaching job, GM of his choice, and 13 million other reasons why I just cannot explain. Is this a weird situation? Yes, but the pinnacle of their profession is to become a head coach in the NFL. If Belichick walked by writing on a napkin within 24 hours of being the Jets coach to resign to become the Patriots coach and go on to be the greatest coach in the history of the sport, then I think it is just fair we let Liam Coen run.

Who knows maybe he isn't an absolute scumbag, even though he loves the sick kid excuse, which is really crazy and usually is just something normal people use to get out of work. Maybe just maybe, he will become the greatest coach of all time (probably not).