The Jacksonville Jaguars appeared to hit a grand slam last offseason by hiring former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as their new head coach. He led the Jags to 13 wins as they won the AFC South title for the first time since 2022 – which had been the last time the team made the playoffs. What should we expect from QB Trevor Lawrence and Co. this season?
Bettors are DraftKings are certainly high on the group. Fans interested in futures betting on the best betting apps need to follow our NFL news page, and bettors can find picks from the SportsLine Projection Model and our experts for the 2026 NFL season. Wager on the NFL with the latest FanDuel promo code and get up to $1,000 in bet resets when you bet $5 for 5 days: Note that Jacksonville hosts Carolina on Friday night in Week 2 of the preseason, but the only thing I will say about that is Coen says he plans to play Lawrence and his starters "a couple drives, potentially" after none played in the exhibition opener.
Previously, Coen had said he had no intention of putting his first-team offense or defense at risk in any of these games. Coen made it clear no starters would then play in the finale. Was last season a fluke, and is Coen perhaps a one-hit wonder?
I'll give you a great fairly recent example of an offensive-minded head coach who thrived in Year 1 and was never close to that guy again: Former Bears coach Matt Nagy. He went 12-4 in 2018 and never posted another winning season. I wouldn't say one-hit wonders are regular, but they're not uncommon.
It's part of the reason there are only five head coaches left in the league who were hired by their teams before 2021. Incidentally, Coen wasn't even the Jaguars' first choice to be head coach, as that was former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, but thank goodness my Bears were able to get him. In almost any other season, Coen could have won the NFL Coach of the Year Award, considering he was only the 11th rookie head coach since the 1970 merger to win at least 12 regular-season games.
Alas, Mike Vrabel practically worked a miracle with the Patriots, so he got the nod and Coen finished second. Check out Trevor Lawrence props and more NFL picks at DraftKings, where new users get $150 in bonus bets paid within 14 days after they spend $5+: For this year's COY, Coen is a +2500 longer shot as obviously it's going to be tough improving upon last season. But know this: eight of the previous 10 on that list of successful rookie coaches got to double-digit victories in Year 2.
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