Why Liam Coen is Playing Jaguars Starters vs. Steelers

“Hainsey [C Robert Heinsey ]," recalled Coen. "Not convinced, but he just came up the other day in the weight room and was just, like, ‘What are we doing?’ I’m like, ‘I’m still working on it. ’ He said, ‘We want to play.’ Trevor [QB Trevor Lawrence] as well and some of the guys, so it’ll be good.”

"A lot of the guys want to play. You’ve got two new systems on both sides of the ball, and the one joint [practice] as I mentioned, so – I’m not saying it ties your hands, you can do whatever you want – just kind of everything leans that way, to it probably being the best thing for our team right now.”

Coen on the importance of players feeling comfortable coming to him like Hainsey did

“Yeah, it is. We obviously have a little bit more experience with some of those kinds of conversations than other guys, but I appreciate being able to have that. Trevor called me the other night, and we talked about it as well on the ride home a little bit."

"I appreciate that and definitely more of what you’re looking for in terms of the communication and the ability to be honest and have a real conversation," convinced Coen. "Ultimately, those guys have a pulse so much more for what the locker room is than I do on a daily basis. That’s just the reality. So, it was good to hear from those guys.”

It's a difficult process to decide on playing time for veterans in the preseason with there's always a chance for things to go badly injury-wise. But Coen knows that his team needs time to gel. Not only that, he knows their desire to play.

Establishing a relationship of trust and collaboration at an early juncture, might just be the first win of Liam Coen's NFL coaching career.

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