Jason Licht finally comments on Liam Coen burning the Buccaneers this offseason

Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Jason Licht commented for the first time on Liam Coen burning him to become the Jaguars head coach.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Jason Licht commented for the first time on Liam Coen burning him to become the Jaguars head coach. | Stacy Revere/GettyImages

It did’t take long for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to encounter some chaos this offseason. On the heels of a tough Wild Card loss to the Washington Commanders, the Bucs were battered by the back-and-forth with offensive coordinator Liam Coen, who took everyone on perhaps the wildest rides we’ve ever been on in the coaching cycle.

Over the course of 24 hours Coen pulled out of the running to be the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, agreed to the return to the Buccaneer as the richest coordinator in NFL history, and then ghosted everyone in Tampa Bay when it came time to sign his contract so that he fly back to Duval to accept the Jags new offer.

The whole thing was the type of scandalous drama that would make the script writers at Bravo! blush, and it was an unfortunate reality the Bucs had to live with. Thankfully things turned out alright in the end, as Josh Grizzard was promoted to replace Coen and Tampa Bay has seemingly moved on.

Given how willd the whole situation was it seemed unlikely we’d heard the last of things. Coen seemed to take some thinly veiled shots at the Bucs in his introductory press conference and was still talking about the team at the NFL Combine this week. He wasn’t alone, though, as general manager Jason Licht also spoke on the matter while seemingly closing the book and that chapter.

Buccaneers GM Jason Licht finally breaks his silence over the Liam Coen situation

While speaking with the media at the NFL Combine this week, Licht finally commented on what happened with Liam Coen and how he feels about it all. Anyone looking for him to go scorched earth will be disappointed, as he managed to keep it professional even if not all parties involved went about it the same way.

"I do not really want to go back in the past there it is over," Licht said. "I will say that a lot of respect for Liam. He was a great coach and you know he is, happy for him and his family and it is a great opportunity for him."

Well said, and very cordial.

Despite Mike Florio dunking on the Bucs while transparently caping for Coen in the midst of the drama, Tampa Bay generally came out of the situation as the sympathic character. None of that actually counts for anything, but the general consensus seemed to be that while the NFL is a business the Bucs got the raw end of the deal.

Licht had publicly kept to himself about the matter, although ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that team officials were as furious as he’s ever seen a front office over what happened. Cooler heads have clearly prevailed but Licht addressing things this way also doubles as a subtle way of taking a shot at Coen.

While he’s done nothing but passively drag the Bucs, Licht taking the high road is a page out of Thanos’ book in letting his former coach know he doesn’t even think about him anymore. The winner of this whole debacle will be determined on the field and by the success each side has, but it’s hard to think that the Bucs aren’t extra motivated to thrive with Coen out of the picture.

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