One Adjustment Liam Coen Must Make This Season for Jaguars

Liam Coen's role has changed

It might not feel like it after their two-game skid, but the Jacksonville Jaguars are ahead of schedule under Head Coach Liam Coen. They matched their win total from last season after just five weeks this year. Now, there's a bit of doom and gloom in Duval despite their 4-3 overall record, a sign of how impressive this team was in the early campaign.

Throughout this season, it was clear that Coen wasn't just coaching for now, but for the future. For example, he's had training wheels on Travis Hunter Jr. while working to develop him on both offense and defense. That's led to some spotty usage of the Jaguars' second-overall pick.

He's shown plenty of signs of stardom at both wide receiver and cornerback, but he's struggled to pick up the fine details of either position due to the overwhelming learning curve of trying to pick up two positions at once at the NFL level.

It's become increasingly apparent, though, that the Jaguars are better off when Hunter Jr. is on the field, on both sides of the ball. Rather than continue to protect him and try to bring him along slowly, it might be time for Coen to take the training wheels off and let his prized prospect loose, even if it means he can only play either offense or defense moving forward instead of both.

There have also been moments where Coen might have leaned on Trevor Lawrence and the passing game to try to build up his young quarterback's confidence, sometimes to the detriment of the team. At 4-3, the Jaguars have a real chance to make the playoffs and even make some postseason noise this season. Coen needs to capitalize on the present moment and go all in on winning games now. His young players will only be better for it — tested by fire and possibly benefiting from the experience of a real playoff run.

There are a number of different things that a win-now coach might do with this team that Coen hasn't yet, such as simplifying the offense for Lawrence, taking the ball out of his hands more, deploying Hunter Jr. full-time at wide receiver, cornerback, or both, and even limiting the plays with a struggling Brian Thomas Jr. as the top option. Time will tell how Coen strikes the balance between immediate returns and future investments for the rest of the season.

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