After a stunning 13-win turnaround and a narrow playoff exit, Liam Coen fine-tunes his roster for 2026, integrating specific Week 1 strategies into early offseason workouts.
The Jacksonville Jaguars are looking to build on a dramatic turnaround after finishing 13-4 in the 2025 season under first-year head coach Liam Coen.
While Coen was the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-7) in 2024, the Jaguars were floundering to a 4-13 record, marking another season with fewer than 10 wins. The Jaguars hired Coen as head coach on Jan. 24, 2025, and he guided Jacksonville to a nine-win improvement (13-4) and the franchise’s first 13-win season since 1999.
Among the highlights of the 2025 campaign was a 31-28 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on “Monday Night Football.” Jacksonville later reached the playoffs before falling to the Buffalo Bills 27-24 in the AFC wild-card round.
With the 2026 season approaching, the Jaguars have already begun preparations. Rookie minicamp opened May 8, and organized team activities are now underway. Coen discussed the team’s offseason focus and preparation for Week 1 to the local media.
“Your focus, as soon as the season hits, it’s so internal,” Coen told John Oehser of Jaguars.com. “You’re just everything self-scout, self-scout, worrying about ourselves and I want to keep that focus the same, but I think it just gives you a little bit of excitement.”
Coen added that the Jaguars are beginning to incorporate elements of their regular-season game plan into offseason work.
“Something to start diving into that we can start to almost incorporate in our offseason program is, ‘Alright, let’s throw some stuff that we know we’re going to install — and things that we know we’re going to run that may be something that pops up on tape that we would envision knowing that we’re going to run in Week 1,’” Coen said.
“Let’s start to sprinkle that in throughout the offseason and see what that looks like. Maybe even throw it up against some of the looks that we could present.”
The Jaguars will open the 2026 regular season against the Cleveland Browns as they look to continue their rise under Coen in his second year as head coach. Coen said going into offseason practices knowing who the first opponent is “just gives you something a little bit competitive to build on and start to just get your mind going."
The last time the two teams played in a season opener was 2000, when the Jaguars won 27-7 over a Browns team in the second year of their rebirth.
Join our ROUNDTABLE community! It's free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!
