Grading the hire of Liam Coen. Did Jaguars get it right?

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jaguars hired Liam Coen as their new head coach on Friday. He will be introduced during a Monday afternoon press conference. We hand out the grades for Jacksonville’s hire of Coen.

Jamal St. Cyr, A

It’s Coen down! The Jags got their guy. I have said it throughout the process that it had to be Ben Johnson or Liam Coen, and I wasn’t the biggest Johnson fan. (I know I’m crazy). But when Johnson went off the board, the Jags had to Coen hard or Coen home. OK, OK, I’m done with the puns. But in all seriousness, this is a good move by the Jaguars and a fresh start for the team. For an offseason that looked off track, it only took a couple of days to get it back on the right path.

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Justin Barney, A-

The Jaguars needed to swing for the fences with this hire, and getting a young offensive mind, albeit, one with a short NFL track record and history of bouncing around, was worth the risk of the unknown. The Coen hire is about trying to fix Trevor Lawrence and get him back to how he was playing during that 14-4 stretch across the 2022 and ‘23 seasons. Coen spent five years in the Sean McVay tree and helped get Baker Mayfield to post a career-best 41-touchdown season in 2024. Yes, a first-time head coach will lead to some questions on whether he’s ready, but Shad Khan believes he is. Maybe this hire is what helps Khan turn what has been the league’s worst team in his tenure into one fans can be proud of.