JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The new-look Jaguars are off and moving.
Under clear skies and a less-than-full audience at the Miller Electric Center, Jacksonville opened training camp Wednesday morning with a much different look than last year.
Recommended Videos
It was the first practice in the new era of Jaguars football, one that included a front office and coaching overhaul in the offseason and dozens of moves to help improve a team that is just 5-18 since the midway point of 2023.
Will all of Shad Khan’s offseason maneuvering pay off as the franchise enters its 31st season? It’s a youth movement across the 904, with a 39-year-old head coach in Liam Coen, a younger-than-he-looks general manager (34-year-old James Gladstone) and a pair of first-time coordinators.
Yes, it just looks and feels different this year in Jacksonville.
“I would just say there’s a little bit more like young energy. The coaches bring a lot of juice. They did last year too, but this year, you know, everyone’s just a little bit younger,” said left guard Ezra Cleveland. “But the players are excited to be here and we’re all working out as hard as we can and trying to push each other.”
Training camp coverage
Notebook from Wednesday | Video: Sights and sounds from Wednesday’s practice | Full interview: Jaguars OL Ezra Cleveland on scheme, video games, first practice | Full interview: WR Austin Trammell on start of camp, underdog mentality | Full interview: DE Dawuane Smoot on return to Jacksonville | News4JAGs podcast: Great start for Joshua Cephus, Aydan White
Coen is the head coach tasked with getting the most from a lineup that not only lost its way but has monumentally underachieved the last year and a half, despite being the most expensive roster in franchise history. Coen’s first camp day was relatively clean and looked more like something from early spring and summer’s organized team activities.
There were a noticeable number of empty seats at the Miller Electric Center, but there was still an energetic vibe across the grounds. Coen got camp underway with an address to the crowd and then hit the ground running.
“I think what we were looking for was, alignment, assignments, kind of limited some of the motions just to, hey. Let’s go get our cleats in the ground. Let’s go play fundamental football. I thought overall, you know, semi clean,” Coen said.
The intensity will ramp up in increments over the next two weeks as Jacksonville homes in on its preseason opener (Aug. 7 against the Steelers). There’s plenty of work to be done in the 12 practice sessions before Pittsburgh arrives in town.
“It’s definitely, especially in training camp, one of the more delicate things you think about as a head coach,” Coen said. “You’re continuing to try to push and you want to push those limits of toughness and be able to make sure that we’re getting mentally and physically tough every single day, while also balancing that you never want anybody to get hurt.”
The defense was among the league’s worst last season, especially through the air. It brought in at least two new starters in the secondary (cornerback Jourdan Lewis and safety Eric Murray) and hired Anthony Campanile, who prefers more of a zone defense compared to the man scheme under Ryan Nielsen.
Coen’s motion and matchup offensive system is the third different in five NFL seasons for quarterback Trevor Lawrence, and one he said is the most difficult that he’s had to learn.
“I would say just the amount of things you have to know, the amount of calls with multiple plays so that we can be in a position to succeed and be in the right play, it’s more of that than I’ve ever had. It’s a lot of motions, a lot of shifts, all those things and then just longer play calls,” Lawrence said. “A little bit more verbiage because of, like I said, multiple plays and motions and shifts but once you know it it’s second nature. You know what everything means, and it all makes sense.”
Coen’s offensive acumen is a major reason he was hired. He helped boost Tampa Bay’s run game from one of the league’s worst into a top four unit in just one season as offensive coordinator. Baker Mayfield had a career passing season under Coen with the Buccaneers. During Jacksonville’s swoon in 2023 and implosion last year, head coach Doug Pederson and offensive coordinator Press Taylor’s system bottomed out. The Jaguars ranked 26th in the NFL in scoring (18.8 ppg) and had one of the most listless offenses in the league. It was something Khan mentioned as a motivating factor in moving on from Pederson.
“I would just say there’s a little bit more like young energy. The coaches bring a lot of juice. They did last year too, but this year, you know, everyone’s just a little bit younger. But the players are excited to be here and we’re all working out as hard as we can and trying to push each other.”
Ezra Cleveland, Jaguars left guard
Coen been tasked with helping Lawrence become a more consistent player than he has been in four seasons and elevate the system across the board. Lawrence has been maddeningly inconsistent through his first four seasons, with injuries the last two years playing a significant part in his struggles. Lawrence had season-ending shoulder surgery (on his nonthrowing shoulder) to recover from this offseason. Coen has said from the beginning that Lawrence’s footwork was a major offseason point of emphasis to work on.
Lawrence said that it’s been beneficial to have backup Nick Mullens well versed in Coen and Grant Udinski’s system so that he can watch and listen from someone who has done it.
“You can trust it. The progressions are great,” Lawrence said. “You just keep trusting it. Trust your feet. Stay on time. All those things. And to see to hear [Mullens] say that and to see him do it, and he’s had to play a lot in the past few years and played well, you can see that that’s real, especially coming from someone that’s done it. It’s nice to hear.”
