Here’s what bothered insider about Jaguars’ Liam Coen, and it wasn’t the Duval chant

Liam Coen could’ve started his tenure as a rookie head coach in great field position. Instead, according to The Athletic NFL insider Mike Jones, Coen began his tenure backed up against his own goal line.

Last Wednesday, Coen reportedly canceled his Jaguars interview and decided to remain with the Buccaneers, agreeing to a coordinator contract that rivaled Vic Fangio among the most lucrative in the league. One head-spinning day later, Jacksonville owner Shad Khan fired general manager Trent Baalke and courted Coen with a clandestine red carpet. And while Coen obviously didn’t have time to practice his first Duval chant, Jones believes Coen should’ve made time to communicate with Todd Bowles, Baker Mayfield and the Bucs.

“I would have reservations in hiring a guy that showed so much disloyalty to the franchise that was doing right by him,” Jones said Wednesday on the BMitch & Finlay show. “In your one year as the offensive coordinator, you do great and you draw attention. That’s fine. So, he didn’t want to go to Tampa.

“He could have said, ‘Hey guys, I really appreciate what you were going to do for me. The situation changed here and this is an opportunity that I feel like I’ve got to pursue.’ Instead, he went dark on the franchise.”

But the franchise ultimately in the dark was Jacksonville, Jones said, because the Jaguars couldn’t see the consequences of keeping Baalke when they fired head coach Doug Pederson on Jan. 6. And Khan’s decision to fire Baalke wasn’t just two weeks late, Jones added. In a similar situation three years ago, Jacksonville was prepared to hire Tampa Bay offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich as head coach when they surprisingly went opposite directions.

“Remember, Baalke did not want them to hire Leftwich so he put out there that Byron did not want to work with them,” Jones said. “Byron told me from his mouth that he had actually never said that, and was wanting to come home and coach in Jacksonville. And all of a sudden, these words came out that he didn’t want to work with them. It’s like, ‘Where did that come from?’ Turns out it was Baalke.”

Past may or may not be prologue for the Jaguars. Truthfully, if Coen can join the other coaches from the Sean McVay tree and produce consecutive playoff berths, few will remember the awkward January that kicked off Coen’s head-coaching career. Few, that is, outside the Tampa Bay area.

And even though Jacksonville got to this point in clunky fashion, the team is finally starting with a clean slate. With a fresh culture and new approach, the Jaguars wouldn’t be the first team to rocket deep into the playoffs. Just last week, two of the four teams playing in conference championship games – Washington and Buffalo – began their current regimes with fresh head coaches and general managers. So did Detroit, Minnesota and the L.A. Chargers.

Coen lost his press conference, most will agree. But Dan Campbell won only four of his first 24 games after telling the world the Lions were going to “bite a kneecap off.” Unfortunately for Jacksonville, a franchise with double-digit losses in 11 of the past 14 seasons and a stadium of the future on deck, patience is in short supply.

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