Liam Coen to the Jaguars - Mission Commander

Liam Coen took the Buccaneers to their best offensive performance since Tom Brady was slinging it, now he'll look to do the same for the Jaguars. Fantasy football is rocket science, and with a new mission commander in town, the Jaguars pieces look more intriguing. Let's take a deeper look at some of the concepts Coen implemented in Tampa Bay, and why it's going to take Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the Jags to the stars.

Liam Coen to the Jaguars - Fantasy Football Impact 2025

Layup Lines

The Jaguars have only had one season above the league average in red zone success rate since Trevor Lawrence was drafted. They convert red zone opportunities into touchdowns at a miserable rate, and a lot of it is because they lack creativity when space gets scarce. Enter Coen layups.

Let's start with the formation. 21 personnel (two backs, one tight end, two receivers) makes the defense stay light. While this play isn't a run, it makes the defense account for the run with either a penetrating blitz (in the clip) or condensed depth from the linebackers and secondary. Either way, quick passes or leaks to the back of the endzone have a significant advantage.

The tight split from Chris Godwin gives him almost half the field to work with on an outside route, and three eligible receivers on that side puts extreme pressure on the defense to defend against outside breakers. Where this gets diabolical is the pre-snap motion. Coen sends one of the quickest backs in the league in motion, and watch what the defense does. Shifting, communicating, and adjusting, the defense is spending more time thinking than chasing the real threat. The backside corner gets so caught up in the motion that he forgets about Mike Evans, someone that defenses should probably be ready for around the goal line.

Plays like this will help Jacksonville convert red zone opportunities. Not the biggest leap to say more touchdowns will be a good thing for this team.

Run Game Wrinkles

Another place the Jaguars need help, their rushing attack. They only had 388 yards come on explosive plays (greater than 15 yards) per PFF. The Bucs went from under 300 yards in 2023 to over 700 in 2024. Yes, Bucky Irving helps, but the creative wrinkles Coen adds to the run game will help get explosive players in space.

The motion on the outside toss here buys Irving a half step to the outside. It might not look like a lot, but watch Fred Warner. That split second saved against an All-Pro was the difference between Irving getting to the edge for an easy touchdown and a play stopped in its tracks at the ten. For both Tuten and Etienne, extra help to get past the first wave of defenders can let them turn on their rocket boosters to get down the field.

Coen makes defenders account for every position on every play. The threat of a read option here, even without calling one, turns a Nick Bosa highlight into a Bucky Irving love song. Baker Mayfield saw 18 designed rushes over 2024, and put up a career high in rushing yards. That wasn't an accident. Coen's route concepts often leave open rushing lanes, and if he can turn Baker Mayfield into the QB4, Trevor Lawrence is a steal outside the top 12 quarterbacks.

Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter Will Be Like NASA to Coen

It's easy to draw parallels to Chris Godwin and Mike Evans with Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter. But Coen was able to keep the Buccaneers offense exciting even with the two star receivers sidelined. What he was able to do with Jalen McMillan, Cade Otton, and assorted space debris will make the playbook with Thomas and Hunter seem incredible.

He motions Otton into trips, and forces the safety to attack downhill into a vertical route against a bigger body. Even if Otton hadn't gotten open on the route, the motion allows Baker to see:

1) Is this a pre-determined man look

2) If no one goes in motion with Otton, we have numbers

The Falcons only had three in coverage on that side pre-snap, with the corner blitzing late. I'm not the strongest at math, but three receivers against two defenders is a pretty exciting scenario. Mayfield gets the ball out quickly, but he had multiple solutions against the problem the Falcons presented him.

At the end of the day, football is a numbers game. And Coen makes the math easy. Whether it's on intermediate and deep routes like the clip with Otton, or here where they motion to have three blockers against three defenders and a running back with wide open grass to the end zone, these easy wins are going to be a breath of fresh air for Jacksonville.

What This Means for the Jaguars and 2025 Fantasy Football

It's still early, and ADP is bound to shift, but right now, most of the Jaguars players are severely undervalued. Trevor Lawrence is outside the top 12, but with easy button answers and more rushing opportunities, he's likely to head back to the promised land.

Brian Thomas Jr. could be Mike Evans in this offense, but with speed to spare. He should be in the same tier as Malik Nabers, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Nico Collins, and has an argument to be closer to Jefferson and Chase than most would feel comfortable admitting.

The Travis Hunter defensive snaps concern is overblown. Even if he's only a 60% snap guy on offense, those snaps will have a clear plan for him to get the ball or to open space for Thomas for more scoring opportunities. We may see a targets per route run score unlike we've ever seen before. At WR2 prices, in PPR leagues Hunter is a gem.

The running backs are all suppressed because we don't know what this backfield will look like. But from his days in Tampa Bay, Coen likes multiple backs who can contribute in unique ways. Etienne is likely the recipient of passing down work and outside attacks. Tuten will get opportunities to be 80% of what Bucky Irving was if he keeps his fumble concerns a thing of minicamp, not the NFL season. And Tank Bigsby can be Sean Tucker + ground game Rachaad White, which may not sound exciting for fantasy football, but he will have weeks where he is a fine RB2 look.

With the backfield still ambiguous, the best advice is to take shots on every piece of this team, because whoever emerges is going to be cleared for launch.