The Jaguars look to ignite their offense with the addition of Liam Coen as their new head coach. As the Bucs OC in 2024, he led Tampa Bay to top 5 rankings in Points per game, rush yards per game, pass yards per game, total yards per game, first downs per game, third down percentage, red zone percentage, and time of possession. The Bucs became the first team in NFL history to complete 70% of their passes and average over 5 yards per carry for the season.
QB: Trevor Lawrence
Coen worked wonders with former No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield and could once again do the same for former No. 1 pick Lawrence. Mayfield had never rushed for more than 165 yards in a season or passed for more than 28 TDs before 2024. Last year, in his lone season with Coen, he passed for 4,500 yards, 41 TDs, and ran for 378 yards with 3 additional TDs.
Lawrence is great clay to mold with two 4,000 yard passing seasons while averaging around 4 rushing TDs per year. In his 2nd NFL season, Lawrence threw 25 TDs / 8 INTs, which is eerily similar to Mayfield’s 26 / 8 third year. Mayfield averaged 62% completions his first 6 NFL seasons before putting up a 71% completion rate with Coen in 2024.
RB: Travis Etienne
Like his former collegiate teammate, Lawrence, Etienne has been written off after a down 2024 campaign. Yet, he’s primed to benefit from the addition of Coen as well. Etienne will be the primary receiving back for Jacksonville.
In 2024, Tampa Bay had Bucky Irving and Rachaad White each record 45+ receptions with 140+ carries. Etienne will own the lion’s share of receptions out of the backfield. In 2023, Etienne recorded 58 receptions and should top that for 2025.
RB: Tank Bigsby
Bigsby’s benefit from the Coen addition will be limited due to the selection of rookie running back Bhayshul Tuten in the 2025 NFL draft. Bigsby had a stellar start to 2024 in which he averaged 5.8 yards per carry over the first 8 games.
He failed to top 60 rushing yards in any of his last 8 games on the year in which he only averaged 3.3 ypc. It’s worth mentioning that the offense was mostly without Lawrence, Christian Kirk and Evan Engram during this run.
RB: Bhayshul Tuten
Tuten will be for the Jags in 2025 what Sean Tucker was for the Bucs in 2024. While they may not have identical styles both backs have the same frame at around 5’9, 206 pounds. Tuten will be utilized to stretch the edges of the defense and could see a breakout game like Tucker’s 2-TD game at New Orleans last year but will end the year having similar total touches for the season (60).
WR: Brian Thomas Jr.
Thomas Jr. started strong as a rookie and finished even stronger. In his first 10 games he averaged 4 receptions for 60 yards per game with 5 total TDs. Over his last 7 games he averaged 7 receptions for 96 yards per game with 5 total TDs. He was targeted more heavily down the stretch due to the offense being without Kirk, Engram and Gabe Davis.
WR: Travis Hunter
The Jaguars drafted Hunter high in hopes that he’s the NFL’s Shohei Ohtani, which he has the ability and talent to develop into. Just like with Ohtani in MLB, it’ll take time to reach that full ROI. Can he add the polish on one or both positions as a rookie if he splits time?
WR: Dyami Brown
Brown only had 3+ receptions in a game three times over his first 3 ¾ seasons, then ended last year with 3+ receptions in each of his last four games of the season. He entered 2024 with a catch rate of 47% while averaging 16.4 ypc.
Now, he’s figured into a more suitable role underneath by catching 30 of 40 targets for a 75% catch rate while averaging 10.3 ypc last year. He’ll be the safety blanket receiver underneath for Lawrence for 2025.
WR: Parker Washington
In the first 7 games of 2024, Washington saw limited action, while catching 3 passes for 21 yards. He made the most of an increased role over the last 10 game with Kirk, Davis and Engram missing time by catching 29 passes for 369 yards and 3 TDs with 7 starts.
TE: Brenton Strange
Strange also benefited from Engram going down multiple times during the season. In the first game that Engram didn’t see time in after both injuries last year, Strange had two games with his career-highs in yards.
First with 3 catches for 65 yards and later in the season with 11 receptions for 73 yards. He also had a 5 for 59 game one of the weeks that Etienne missed. Strange totaled 40 receptions for over 400 yards with 2 TDs on his rookie season.
BREAKOUT PLAYER: Brenton Strange
In Coen’s first year in Tampa Bay, he got his 3rd-year TE, Cade Otton to career-highs of 59 / 600 / 4, while Otton only played in 14 games. In Coen’s first year in Jacksonville, he’ll get his 3rd-year TE, Brenton Strange to career-highs of 70 / 700 / 6 over a 17 game season.
BUST: Travis Hunter
Hunter has off-the-charts talent and potential. However, the Jaguars paid a trade price that would lead you to believe that they view him as more than an elite receiver or corner exclusively. They’ll force the issue to get him on the field to play both sides of the ball. He needs polish for the NFL game at receiver and cornerback.
While learning and developing at multiple positions, expect there to be growing pains. He’d be electric Week 1 if this was 7-on-7s but in the NFL, his flawed routes and Deion Sanders-like tackling traits leave a lot to be worked on.
SLEEPER: Parker Washington
Washington will provide consistency at receiver and compete with TE, Strange and RB, Etienne to be the second on the team in receptions behind Thomas Jr. The entire trio of Washington, Strange and Etienne should hover around 60-70 receptions each.
Hunter will provide electric plays while Strange, Etienne and Brown fulfill safety-blanket roles. Thomas Jr. will be the go-to threat, leaving Washington as the intermediate option.
BOLD PREDICTION: Trevor Lawrence
Lawrence will throw for over 4,000 yards, 40 passing TDs with 400 rushing yards and 5 rushing TDs under Coen in 2025. He wasn’t as NFL-ready as projected but now, with a few seasons under his belt and an offensive mind playing him to his strength, he’ll make a leap in play.
