The short-term Rams offensive coordinator could become a head coach this week
Former Rams offensive coordinator Liam Coen is interviewing with the Jaguars on Wednesday for their open head coaching position and there’s a growing expectation that he won’t leave without the job. Bucs beat reporter Rick Stroud wrote on Tuesday that Tampa Bay is “preparing for Coen to be offered Jaguars job” and if he doesn’t get an offer and/or accept it, the play caller is expected to still be an NFL head coach soon.
Many Buccaneers fans would even like Coen to replace Todd Bowles so that he doesn’t leave Tampa Bay. Did the Rams make a mistake when Coen and the team parted ways after just one season together when he was the OC?
Bucs preparing for Liam Coen to be offered Jaguars job https://t.co/WiWA0DyTmp
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 21, 2025
Coen first joined the Rams in 2018 as an assistant wide receivers coach and stayed on the staff for three seasons. He left to become the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2021, the same year that the Rams won the Super Bowl, and then was hired to replace Kevin O’Connell in 2022.
The timing could not have been worse for Coen or the Rams.
Between injuries, offseason losses, and poor offensive management, the Rams finished 5-12 and ranked 27th in scoring. There were a lot of excuses thrown around as far as why Coen went back to Kentucky in 2023, with Coen citing a desire to call plays and to work with college players again, but the simple fact of the matter is that he knew what he was signing up for (he had worked for McVay for three years) and the team would not have let Coen leave that easily if things were going well.
The proof is in the pudding: Liam Coen has always wanted to be an NFL head coach, he’s trying to become a head coach this week, he wouldn’t have left the Rams on his own volition unless he was asked to go.
After one more season at Kentucky, Coen sort of went back to his roots by linking up with Baker Mayfield again in Tampa Bay. After the Bucs lost Dave Canales to the Carolina Panthers, Coen swooped the open OC job and the opportunity to call plays.
The Bucs improved from 20th in scoring in 2023 with Canales to 4th in 2024 with Coen.
They’ve gone from the 32nd ranked rushing team to the 4th ranked rushing team.
This is why many Bucs fans are puzzled as to Tampa’s apparent intention to let Coen leave so that they can retain Bowles, someone who is going into his ninth season as an NFL head coach but has a 1-3 career playoff record.
Did the Rams make a mistake by parting ways with Coen in 2023?
Maybe. Everybody makes mistakes, even Sean McVay and his coaching staff. Coen couldn’t really be blamed for L.A.’s struggles in 2022, especially since McVay was the one calling plays. And even though the Rams have made the playoffs in each year since Coen departed, their offense has merely been “OK” (20th in scoring in 2024) and so far nobody has called to ask about Mike LaFleur’s interview availability.
Not even as an OC who would get to call plays.
Coen wanted the opportunity to call plays. He’ll get even more than he bargained for.
