Liam Coen is off to Jacksonville as the new head coach of the Jaguars, leaving Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield with yet another new offensive coordinator in 2025. Since entering the NFL in 2018 as the first overall pick by the Browns, Mayfield has had eight different offensive coordinators.
Coen helped Mayfield put together his best season in the NFL, as the former number one pick threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, both career-highs. Now Coen is leaving and when asked if he felt bad for leaving Mayfield behind, his answer sounded pretty sad.
"I don't feel, you know, it's not bad. It's unfortunate in ways, because of the competitor, because of the person that he is. You know, we got really close," Coen said on Pardon My Take. "Obviously, we worked together in LA those last kind of, like five or six weeks. He was paramount, kind of, in my evolution to coming to Tampa, like getting there."
Some might see/hear this quote and think that Coen doesn't feel bad for Mayfield but when diving deeper and giving it a closer look/listen, it kind of seems like if there's something Coen will miss in Jacksonville with his new team, it's Mayfield. The two had a lot of success together, both in Los Angeles during Mayfield's brief stint with the Rams, and then in 2024 when Mayfield had a career year with Coen as his offensive coordinator.
It sure sounds like Liam Coen will miss not having Baker Mayfield as his QB in Jacksonville
Now Coen will have Trevor Lawrence, another former number one pick, as his quarterback and will be tasked with trying to get Lawrence to live up to his true potential. While Lawrence hasn't been bad by any means since the Jags took him first overall in 2021, he's definitely been considered a disappointment.
We'll have to see if Mayfield can continue to thrive for the Bucs with his new offensive coordinator and if Coen can continue to replicate the success he had without Mayfield. We'll see once and for all who really deserved the credit.