Lawrence ‘Really Excited and Optimistic About the Future’
By: Gavin Oliver February 19, 2025

After winning the AFC South title and earning a playoff victory in 2022, the Jacksonville Jaguars are coming off back-to-back disappointing seasons – finishing 9-8 in 2023 and 4-13 this past season while missing the playoffs both years.

But despite the franchise’s struggles of late, Jaguars quarterback and former Clemson star Trevor Lawrence sees big things ahead for the Jaguars with their new leader in place.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen took the Jacksonville Jaguars’ head coaching job in late January, replacing Doug Pederson, and Lawrence believes the future is bright in Jacksonville with Coen at the helm.

“I like everything we have in place so far — Coach Cohen and the whole staff that he’s brought in so far,” Lawrence said during an interview with NFL personality Kay Adams on her Up & Adams Show.

“So, I’m really excited and optimistic about the future.”

Coen is regarded as an excellent play-caller and offensive guru, and Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield – a former No. 1 overall pick, like Lawrence – enjoyed a career year in Tampa under Coen in 2024.

With Coen calling the shots, the Bucs ranked third in the NFL in total offense (399.5 yards per game) and fourth in points scored (29.5 points per game) this past season.

Now, the 39-year-old Coen is the youngest head coach in Jaguars history and their third head coach in five years. He has been an assistant coach for 15 seasons, with five of those campaigns at the NFL level.

Coen’s passion has already made a big impression on Lawrence from the time they’ve spent together to this point.

“He has this drive to win, to have success,” Lawrence said. “Obviously, this is his first head coaching gig, and he has a lot to prove. I think to see what he’s done in his past as a play-caller with a lot of different quarterbacks, a lot of different types of quarterbacks, too, in college, at the NFL level, obviously what he did with the Bucs last year — I’m really excited just from a football perspective of the scheme, the offense we’re going to run, how he sets everything up, the run game. I’m just really, really excited for that.

“But then the leader, the energy — he’s a younger guy. I think just the juice he’s going to bring into the building and the staff he hired, it’s a good mix. We have a lot of young coaches, but we also have some veteran, older guys that have been doing it for a long time that are experienced.”

Lawrence added that after the adversity the Jags have experienced over the past couple of seasons, they need the “energy” and “juice” that Coen brings.

“From a leadership perspective, having that energy day in, day out is something I think our team needs,” Lawrence said. “We’ve been through a lot. The last two seasons have been not what we expected after what we did two years ago. And I think this team just needs some juice, and I know he’s going to bring that. As players, I’m ready to lead and bring that as well. Because we all have to buy in, right? We have to buy into what he’s doing, the culture he’s trying to set, or we don’t have a shot. So, that’s our responsibility, is to buy into what he wants us to be and the identity we want to have as a team and take it and run with it.

“Because at the end of the day, players play, and scheme is important and obviously there’s some things we can do there to set us up. But players have to take it and believe in it, and I think that’s the biggest thing, is just that belief. And I know for me and a lot of guys I’ve talked to, we’re fully bought in and just excited for April to get here and to start.”