Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen talks backup QBs, rookie DE

Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen held a news conference on Sept. 2 at the Miller Electric Center, his only press availability between the final preseason game on Aug. 28 and the first game week heading into the season opener against the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 13.

Coen talked about a wide range of topics, starting with the trade for quarterback Quinn Ewers from the Miami Dolphins to serve as the backup to Trevor Lawrence, and cutting previous backup Nick Mullens (who was brought back to the practice squad).

The Jaguars practiced on Sept. 2 and are off until Sept. 9.

Jaguars coach Liam Coen on signing QB Quinn Ewers

"Just wanting to continue to create the competition in the room. I thought watching some of the stuff he did last year, when he got some ops to go play, I thought he showed some signs

of being able to spread the ball around to different spots on the field. Has some arm talent. I like [quarterbacks] coming out of Texas. I think [coach Steve Sarkasian] does a really good job with quarterbacks, and [Ewers] is a young player that you can pour into and see what that looks like as we go. And so he's obviously having to get up to speed right now.

Liam Coen on Nick Mullens signed to practice squad

"Wanted to make sure we kept Nick as well here in terms of week one, what does [Ewers] look like, and is he up to speed? But also the amount of work that Nick puts in. To the rest of the guys, the crew, but wanted to make sure that are we putting ourselves, continuing to put ourselves in the best position to be successful as an offense, if and when something were to happen to Trevor."

Liam Coen on rookie DE Bryan Thomas Jr.

"Early in OTAs, when you just saw him hit bags, really early on when we had no pads on, nothing. You could see an explosiveness, twitchy, loose, just some natural pass rush skills. It's a knack, it's a feel. Some guys have it. Some guys, it takes a little while to get there. And we were really excited about getting him in here post-draft. And then, obviously, once he got into some of the preseason games and you started to see it. Pleased with where he's at and think he can help us as we go throughout the season."

Liam Coen on Trevor Lawrence's ability to go to his left

"I think I saw some pretty cool stats of Trevor rolling to his left specifically, and what the accuracy looked like, and how many completions and explosives were created. When going to his left, obviously a lot of quarterbacks are more right-hand dominant, and they go right. He has the ability to kind of baseball turn out to his left or slide up and go to his left. I don't want to take that away from him. We try to continue to educate these guys about when's the time to slide, when's the time to run. But that's so instinctive at that moment."

Liam Coen on veteran RB Ameer Abdullah

"Ameer is one of the first guys in our building. Every single day, the way that he prepares his body, the way he prepares for practice, the way that he goes about his business. He's a great teammate. Everybody loves him. He does all the little things the right way. Will help us on special teams as well."

Liam Coen on the rehab of OT Cole Van Lanen and RB LeQuint Allen Jr.

"I think if anybody can do it, it'll be those guys because of the way that they attack the rehab, the way that they attack the process. I know Cole's looked good. He's looked really good. I know he got some confidence. The preseason game the other night, he did one-on-ones against some of the defensive players, and he felt really good doing that. And then LeQuint, we definitely miss the presence. The physicality, the edge, the toughness, all that stuff.

"I would be pleasantly surprised if [Allen] was ready to go, but I know that this guy has attacked it, as you guys would probably imagine, just attacked it in the right way. I am sure that both of those guys are probably going to be more like game-time decisions]."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars coach Liam Coen talks backup QBs, rookie DE