All systems are about to go dark for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, at least that's how it feels with news that offensive coordinator Liam Coen is about to get offered a head coaching job. It's something that has felt inevitable, but push is finally coming to shove and resolution on Coen's future is nearing.
Ben Johnson taking the head coaching job in Chicago essentially bumped Coen into the top slot of available candidates but he might not last long there. According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs are preparing for the Jacksonville Jaguars to make Coen an offer to become the team's head coach.
This isn't the first time the Jaguars have come knocking on Tampa Bay's door looking to potentially hire away an offensive coordinator, but this time it might actually happen. Before hiring Doug Pederson, Jacksonville showed interest in Byron Leftwich but nothing ended up happening.
Coen is a different story though for a number of reasons. He's had more success than any Bucs offensive coordinator has this decade as he turned Tampa Bay into one of the most powerful offenses in the league. He also did what Leftwich and Dave Canales couldn't do: fix the NFL's worst rushing attack.
All of this caused Coen's stock to soar as the season went on and now it appears he's going to cash in and leave the Bucs in an unfortunately familiar situation.
Buccaneers reportedly preparing to lose Liam Coen to the Jaguars
If Coen leaves, which is now looking increasingly likely, it will mark the third straight offseason that Todd Bowles needs to find a new offensive coordinator. Byron Leftwich was fired after the 2022 season and his replacement, Dave Canales, bolted for a head coaching job after just one season,
Coen appears set to do the same, which is about as bittersweet as it gets. On the one hand, it proves that Tampa Bay is a factory for developing key personnel that the rest of the league covets. We saw this not only with Canales and Coen but also with assistant general managers John Spytek and Mike Greenberg getting interviews for top front office jobs.
The downside, of course, is that a major piece of Tampa Bay's success this season is being subtracted from the equation. Coen helped turbo boost the offense in ways we haven't seen since Tom Brady's near-MVP season in 2022, and that's not going to be easy to replace.
Bowles and general manager Jason Licht have proven they know how to hire top talent, but pulling off the same trick three years in a row will be tough. If there's a duo who can make it happen it seems to be them, but that's all easier said than done.
A major caveat is that Coen getting offered the job is not the same as him accepting it. That feels like wishful thinking but we saw Ben Johnson pull out of a deal with the Washington Commanders last year only to land the job of his choosing this year.
That could be what Coen does, as the Jaguars job has its appeal but also has Trent Baalke involved. Coen returning to the Bucs might be his best long-term option considering the doors it might open -- the right ones -- but it's starting to look like he'll be as good as gone in the next few days.
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