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In an intriguing turn of events, Liam Coen met with the Jacksonville Jaguars regarding their head coaching vacancy on Thursday, ESPN reported, one day after agreeing to a contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that would make him the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator.

Coen, who recently finished his first season as the Bucs’ offensive coordinator, reached out to Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles after deciding to talk with Jacksonville, per the report.

The 39-year-old Coen had stepped out of consideration as a candidate to become Jacksonville’s head coach on Wednesday, hours before the Jaguars parted ways with general manager Trent Baalke.

In a Jan. 6 news conference after the firing of head coach Doug Pederson following a 4-13 season, Jaguars owner Shad Khan kept Baalke on board. But Khan also said that day that he would be open to a discussion if a head coaching candidate took issue with the structure of the front office or working with Baalke.

In Coen’s second stint as an NFL offensive coordinator, Tampa Bay averaged 29.5 points per game, fourth in the league in 2024. The Buccaneers ranked third in averaging 399.5 yards per game, third at 250.4 passing yards and fourth at 149.2 rushing yards. They led the league by making 50.9 percent of their third-down attempts (110 of 216). Their total of 395 first downs was second in the league.

Leading that offense, Baker Mayfield set career highs with 41 touchdown passes, 4,500 passing yards and a 71.4 percent completion percentage under Coen’s wtch.

Coen in recent years has bounced between the NFL and the University of Kentucky, where he was offensive coordinator in 2023 and 2021. He was the Los Angeles Rams’ OC in 2022, and he worked under head coach Sean McVay as the Rams’ assistant wide receivers coach (2018-19) and assistant quarterbacks coach (2020).

–Field Level Media