Players are back in the building at the Miller Electric Center today as the Jacksonville Jaguars begin the first phase of their 2026 offseason workout program.
“Feels like the ‘26 season kinda gettin’ started- gettin’ a kickoff in a lot of ways,” head coach Liam Coen said to begin Monday’s media availability.
“Great to get them back because so much of the work that gets put in throughout the offseason with the coaches, you start to get sick of it,” Coen joked. “You want to get some of that stuff put into
practice is really what I mean, with fundamentals, techniques, concepts, three better/three best with our players. Like you’re kind of chomping at the bit.”
The coaching staff also receives “three better/three best” offseason goals, and some of Coen’s own include continuing to trust those around him and not dwelling too much on past decisions that didn’t work out.
As for the players, Coen’s initial message is all about attacking.
“We’re attacking this offseason, and we’re attacking the details, we’re attacking our relationships, we’re attacking our communication, because there’s new, there’s change, there’s different communications and relationships that need to be blended and matched. Pouring into each other from a details standpoint, I think that’s going to be key and critical.”
Not much later, the Jaguars’ social team posted Coen’s actual first speech to the players.
Not every current rostered player was present — attendance is voluntary at this stage — but Coen seemed pleased by the participation. “The guys were locked in, answering questions in the meetings, very engaged in the team meeting.”
“We just appreciate guys taking the time and anybody that’s not here, it’s totally been communicated and understood. There’s no surprises. The guys are all seem like they’re in a good place.”
When asked about the team’s general health coming out of last season, Coen highlighted the facility’s “virtual meeting room,” where players like Travis Hunter (LCL), Cole Van Lanen (knee), and Jourdan Lewis (foot) can simulate some of the on-field reps they’ll be missing.
“We’re not expecting those guys to probably hit the grass this spring in competitive situations, but they’re going to get a ton of reps. We expanded the downstairs with that virtual meeting room to make it a little bit more realistic. And so those guys are going to be able to utilize that room a lot of times during practice to be able to go get some mental reps and I think that’s going to be huge for those guys this offseason.”
One player who will be healthy is quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who didn’t throw for much of last offseason’s workout program due to a 2024 AC joint sprain that required surgery.
Coen wants to see Lawrence carry over his play from the end of last season — “the expectation is, hey, we pick up there and let’s roll” — so that every position group can level up. “That’s something that is important for us, to go take a next step as a receiving group, as a tight end group, running backs. Everybody that’s involved in the pass game specifically.”
“For him, to be able to take that next jump of complete ownership, complete ownership of what we’re getting accomplished pre-snap, that whole operation, so we don’t snap it under five [seconds], and then to be able to execute once you get the ball in your hands. Because look, so much happens for the quarterback, pre-and-post snap.”
“We would like to be able to give him more ops to play faster, too. There’s that fine line between being in the perfect play, having a number of different cans and kills and alerts, versus ‘Man, let’s just call and run it, let those guys just go play.’ And I think if anything, we’d like to lean more into that this spring.”
For each play that the quarterback goes to the line of scrimmage with the option to call, there are that many potential problems and solutions to think through before snapping the ball. “That now makes the quarterback, ‘Alright, post-snap, I’ve got to have the three-deep answer, quarters answer, man answer too, and I’ve got to know where those are, and find a completion.’ Sometimes when you live in the can and premier world, you’re almost—I don’t want to say paralyzing the player, but you’re not letting them maybe be as creative as possible, and you’re dictating to him where the ball should go. So, it’s that balance.”
“If he can take that growth of complete ownership this spring, I’m excited about getting an opportunity to do it.”
To wrap up, Coen also commented on Jacksonville’s recent trade that sent Maason Smith to the Atlanta Falcons for Ruke Orhorhoro.
“I have a lot of respect for Maason Smith. I hope he has a heck of a career. He did nothing but what we asked him to do from a work ethic standpoint, from doing the right things and what we asked of him, and we felt like we had an opportunity to potentially get an ascending player that can provide a little bit in the rush.
“It’s hard to find big men that can move like that on the interior part of your defense without giving up in the run game. That’s something we want to continue to be top-notch at, which we were in the NFL this past season, but something we want to look at that Ruke gives us an opportunity to—big man that can move, that can get in the rush plan as well and showed the ability to get to the quarterback a little bit. So that was something that we felt like was going to fit for us.”
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