Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen

25:02Rich Eisen:I'm sorry. We got Liam Cohen coming up in a second. He basically told you, I see, This is year 30 of me doing this stuff. Plus, this is a negotiation. I've been told before I'm not this sort of stuff. You know, and yeah, is it maddening for a Cowboy fan that this stuff keeps happening and it's not done already buttoned up so you can just focus in and zero in on the football and the rooting for the team and the footballing and all that sort of business? Of course it is. But at the end of the day, is this the reason why the Cowboys are not? And he could maybe, if you push back on anything, the fact that they wait and maybe not get somebody else for the roster, that may be the issue.

25:41Rich Eisen:That's bingo. First time he's stopped by on this program, the HC of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Liam Cohen is here on the program. How you doing, Coach? Great, Rich. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Listen, how does it feel to be an HC in the league? Just to take a second. I know you're getting ready for your first preseason game. You're in the midst of everything going on. But does it hit you at any point in time here? Coach? Actually, it was a pretty cool moment the other night. We had the scrimmage in the stadium the other night, and my dad had an opportunity to walk in the coach's locker room with us and into that area where I have my own office, obviously, in the locker room, and he just kind of had a moment where he's like, man, how cool is this?

26:22You know, I'm really proud of you, and that was just one of those moments that you don't take those moments very often, especially at this point where you haven't gone and won a game you haven't really done anything uh to truly prove it yet but ultimately it was a cool moment between a father and a son and ultimately a guy that coached me my entire life so that was a really cool moment yeah not bad for a rhode island

26:43Rich Eisen:kid huh right there in uh in florida right there in central florida how did you get started in coaching how did this all get grown for you so my grandfather was a coach uh he was at brown University. Gosh, I don't know what the years were, but my dad was a Division III college head coach at Salve Regina. He started that program in 92 in a small school in Rhode Island. He was a high school coach my entire life as well. And so once the playing days were over at UMass, ended up getting a great opportunity. Mark Whipple actually made a phone call to Phil Estes, who was the head coach at Brown University at the time.

27:21And I was able to get an entry-level position coaching the quarterbacks, I think making about$15 ,000, no benefits. And you're, you're getting coffee. You're the video coordinator. You're, you're kind of, you're coaching the quarterbacks. You're doing all the grunt work and ultimately that's the start of it all. And I kind of bounced around in the Northeast there and FCS schools and got the opportunity to go to the Rams in 2018 to be with Sean. Yeah.

27:47Rich Eisen:I guess how much of McVay is in you, Liam, you know, Because he's got a heck of a coaching tree for somebody who's not even 40 yet, right? So I'm just wondering how – because, again, you know, James Gladstone's now the GM there. There's a lot of Rams going on there in Jaguar country right now. Yeah, Sean made such an impact on me. Still does to this day with the conversations that we had really going throughout this process, throughout the season last year in Tampa, but also throughout the head coaching. search the process. So much of our culture and so much of the things that we end up doing here in terms of the way that we want to communicate with each other, the respect that we have between player to coach, coach to player, staff to staff, everybody in the building.

28:37A lot of that comes from Sean and from the building that I was in in L.A. for 2018, really through 2020, was one of the more infectious buildings I've ever been in. And, you know, Sean, he has that ability to to elevate people with his presence, with his energy, with his words. And that was something my first few years in LA that I felt from him was, man, you don't do this to get a pat on the back as a coach, right? You just, you do your job, you kind of stay in your lane and you put your head down and work. And he kind of showed a different side of the person of being a coach and how we can kind of connect with people both your staff your players uh everybody in the building and in a different way and it kind of opened my eyes to say man like we can say we appreciate one another we can say you're doing a great job and all it did was make me want to work harder for him and

29:31Rich Eisen:that was pretty sustained throughout my time with him and now obviously it's time to uh start tilling your current field right liam cohen head coach of the jaguars here on the rich eyes and So let's get to what's on your plate right now. And clearly, I'm sure, in your meetings with the Kahn family to get the gig and to talk about the gig, it's a plan for Trevor Lawrence. Where are we in this process of you getting to know him, attached to the hip? This is it, right, for you and the Jaguars coach quarterback combination here. Absolutely. You know, on my interview, actually in person, I had an opportunity to sit down with Trevor quickly, And that was really where it all started.

30:11And then you fast forward to really the last two practices. If you go to our scrimmage under the lights the other night and then our practice yesterday, some major improvements from Trevor really since getting into this system. Right. As you know, Rich, like it's Sean, the system, it's not the easiest to learn. Right. There's a lot of different complications in terms of the motions, the shifts, the cans, the amount that we do end up putting on the quarterback ultimately. And not just the quarterback, but the entire unit of itself. And so he's starting to see it before it occurs now. The motions and shifts and alignments are all starting to become second nature for him.

30:53And now you're starting to see that talent just go out and be on display. And so is it perfect every day? No, and that's the beauty of it is that he's learning every single day and we're learning about him every single day. But the guy is mentally and physically tough. And you can always start with that. The great ones are always mentally and physically tough that I've been around, at least. And so you can always start there. And he's talented and he wants to be good. He wants to be great. And so I've been really pleased with him over the last few practices, especially.

31:26Rich Eisen:So what do you think he can get better at? What do you think? Yeah, I think just getting the ball out on time and in rhythm, but also, okay, number one's not open in my progression or my read. Moving on, right? Moving on, playing in rhythm, but maybe that's not to the number one or the number two receiver in the read. How do we progress through the concept, through the read, while staying in rhythm so that the ball is still coming out in a timely manner? So that means your footwork, your eyes, your rhythm, when you do progress, staying in that rhythm and not being able to have wasted movements in the pocket.

32:04All of those things, making sure that we're set when we're throwing to our left, making sure that we're set when we're throwing to our right so that the ball can come out when you want it. We try to coach the quarterback a lot like a boxer, right? You always got to be in a position to throw a punch. Same thing with the quarterback. You've always got to be in a position, regardless of what that truly always looks like. It may not always be the same, but to get the ball out and to throw it on time and accurately. So I think those are some of the things that he can continue to work on that he is working hard at.

32:36And just getting chemistry with some of these new young receivers that we have. He actually has obviously some rapport with BT, but a lot of new for him at the tight end and receiver position.

32:48Rich Eisen:Well, let's talk about BT a little bit. Liam Cohen, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach. You're referring to Brian Thomas. You've been around some great receivers, obviously, last year. Tampa, Rams, your couple stints there. How good is this kid? Can you comp him? What do you got for me? So different because he has some of the ability to win vertically, as Mike Evans has, obviously, in his career, where he can truly run right by you if you are playing off thirds or off quarters or man coverage, he can run right by you. But also his ability at the first and second level to get in and out of breaks for a bigger dude is different, right?

33:29Where he's built similar in terms of the length of Mike Evans, but Cooper Cup, the guys that we had, Robert Woods, that were able to get in and out of breaks on some of those choice routes, option routes, to where that's the separation that gets created on those third downs, right? who used to be third and third and cup right every third down it was a choice or option route he has it right he does have that ability to get parallel to get to the line of scrimmage but also you can throw him screens and he can go do something with it I've been really pleased with him uh great dude wants to be great um he's taken all the coaching and I've been really pleased with

34:07Rich Eisen:him so far well let's get into this Liam Cohen here because um I've been kind of holding back asking you about this in the very beginning because I'm obsessed with Travis Hunter. So is pretty much America. Let's be honest, okay? And you have quite an opportunity here. I mean, you are the guardian of this. You know exactly where I'm going on this. And as a guy who's been following the NFL for as long as I have, I've never seen anybody with an opportunity to do what he has the physical and even better mental capability to do. The smarts to pull off going into multiple meeting rooms with people he's trying to beat in practice and then become teammates with on the weekend.

34:50Rich Eisen:OK, I've never seen anything like this. This is now in your hands. What is your plan to play Travis Hunter on both sides of the football in the NFL? Liam Cohen. It's absolutely happening. I mean, it is. It's, you know, this spring was a great learning curve for us where you've got to have everybody on the board. Everybody in the building was on board with how do we get the best out of Travis's days and how do we make the most out of his time and our time as coaches and support staff and athletic training, sports science, equipment, strength and conditioning. Everybody's been on board with this from the beginning.

35:29Right. Fast forward to now where he has taken massive strides, specifically at the receiver position, of truly playing it. How to run each route, how to attack leverage. His ball skills and body control are extremely natural. Extremely natural. You can't really coach that. What he's been able to learn in getting aligned, assignments, fundamentals, techniques. And then when you go into a scrimmage and he gets one on one on a choice route and he's got a linebacker on him and he can make you miss and he can go do something with it. And just the energy rich, right, the energy that he provides, the type of confidence that he does exude that, you know, it comes from a cool place where it's almost youth like.

36:18but he's also extremely mature for somebody his age to have gone through what he's gone through, to get to where he's gone, the path that he's taken to get here. It's pretty cool to see, right? And these guys, they challenge him, right? They challenge him every day, both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. They're chirping at him, and it's friendly, great competition. It's healthy. But, yeah, Travis is definitely somebody that's been really fun to work with so far.

36:45Rich Eisen:Sure. My goodness. What an opportunity here for you, the team, for him, for his teammates and for the league and for fans. And have you reached out to Prime at all? Dion, you ever had any conversations with him at all? I haven't. Tony Buscelli has. Okay. Obviously with the – You hooked up with the jackets? You hooked up with the jackets and the busts? Okay. Those guys have. Anything you can share? Anything you can share? Just the confidence that Coach Prime had given us about him, just like how confident he was that he can do this, was pretty telling, right? I mean, at no point was it ever, yeah, you know, he's talented, but this is going to be something that he may struggle with or this is what he may struggle with or that.

37:32It was, man, he can do this. And that was just cool to hear from a guy that obviously you have a ton of respect for. playing the game at a high level and obviously in the same profession and coaching at a high level as we are, is hearing somebody as confident that they have a relationship that's extremely strong. It's a bond that's real. Travis has so much respect for Coach Prime, and you can tell it goes both ways. So to hear that, to hear Travis, the way he speaks about him, and obviously Coach Prime having some health issues over the last few months, how much that is obviously not weighed on Travis, but he cares.

38:10He cares a lot about him. And you can see the person in Travis show up a lot and the young man when he talks about prime.

38:19Rich Eisen:Well, I was delighted to see at your practice, your evening, in front of 11 ,000 people at Everbank, that we saw 38 snaps out of Travis Hunter. 17 with the first team O, 21 with the first team D. You know, all of us in the media, we're trying to get you to put a number here. Do you have a number? Do you have a number? Like a sweet spot number for the number of snaps you can get out of him week one and then maybe work him in later in the season? Do you have... Does one exist? It's a hard number to probably come up. If you're saying you're going to play 65 to 75 snaps on offense let's call it right and you know if he's playing 80 of those snaps or so you know and then similar you know defensively and you look at trying to be able to match that number as much as possible you know it's sure ultimately for him it's really going to come down to like you know offensively and defensively we've done more offense because that was where more of the development was necessary, right?

39:29So much more naturally to just go walk out on the field and play corner. Like that's what he's done. He can go do that very similarly. Now there's a lot of checks. There's a lot of calls. There's a lot of different things that go to that, but offensively we felt like there was a little bit more development that was necessary and it's a lot more ball, right? Just a lot more scheme and words and calls. And so he has done his every single day, Rich is completely packed from the moment that he arrives to the moment he leaves with making sure that he is meeting with somebody at all times, at all times.

40:02And so I've been really pleased with the staff, our staff in general and his work ethic. You want to play him as much as we can though, Rich. That's the reality.

40:10Rich Eisen:I love it. I love it. I can't tell you how, honestly you have an opportunity here for the entire league to be zeroed in. And I know it's 53. I get it. We're talking rosters. It's a team. I haven't even mentioned defense. We had Josh Hines Allen here in this chair a couple of weeks ago. He's dynamite. I mean, you've got some great people on everywhere. But this is what an opportunity here. And the neat thing is he wants to do it. And I'm wondering, have you had to pull him back at any point in time? It's so fun. You had to have. I imagine, right? I mean, he wants more. I bet. Every single day. What about your staff?

40:47Rich Eisen:Have you had to basically like say, hey, let's all play along here. You're going to get him here? You're going to get him there? Oh, yeah, there's definitely days, especially early on, where we're getting to know him before we became a little bit more concrete, maybe in our scheduling for him was definitely, okay, he would do some really positive things on one side of the ball or the other. And, you know, there was definitely some arguments about who would have him maybe the next day. And we came to a pretty fair conclusion for training camp of making sure that it was darn near almost equal with reps on both offense and defense.

41:22So that's been the cool part is to be able to see him go and be able to do it, obviously, within a scrimmage, within a practice. But also, this is like normal for him, Rich, right? Like he's been doing this. It's harder on us in terms of just logistically, like processing, getting the quality work without overdoing it. But the guy's, you know, his ability to run for a long time and his ability to be conditioned is pretty unique. And so he's just kind of used to it. It's normal for him. So, like, when he finishes a rack with the offense and he's on offense that day, like, he's hitting me. Like, dude, coach, let me go over the defense.

42:08Let me go. I'm like, relax. Relax. It's July. Yes, tomorrow.

42:14Rich Eisen:You know what I mean? Tomorrow. uh yeah god awesome pretty quick i can't honestly as you can tell i cannot get enough of how you might use him and how he might look and how last one for you on this and then i'll let you go on your day here do you do you think he can be offensive and defensive rookie of the year in the same year what do you think what do you think i do think it's possible i do think it's possible um you know he's he is committed man like he is committed to to driving not just himself but his teammates as well and i think that his teammates you spoke of josh hines allen you know speak of treyvon walker you speak of foyer you know tyson campbell i mean jordan lewis from from dallas like these guys are challenging him every single day like he doesn't get a free pass because he was the second overall pick in these Travis Hunter like they are in his grill trying to jam him up trying to hem him up trying to make it as hard as they can possibly make it for him in a great way like in the most healthy way as possible where they're going at it and chirping at each other but it it's truly guys iron sharpening iron that's what it feels like and I wouldn't expect anything less from those guys and so the they've all been on board in terms of hey man they think he can do it as well but they're gonna make him earn it as well in this building yeah i mean you know that's the way it's gonna go when carolina faces against him right like you know jc horn's not gonna give him a little pat on the back you know what i mean no it's not gonna be like hey man this is cool what you're doing like you know like they're gonna say no dude you can't do this and that's the beauty of it so um you know i think he's definitely driven to do it for the right reasons.

44:01Rich Eisen:What a pleasure chatting. Congrats on the gig. Congrats on what you got there in front of you. Look forward to seeing what you can do there in the AFC South and beyond and look for more of my calls. Coach, appreciate it. I appreciate it, Rich. Thanks for having me on. You bet. That's Liam Cohen, head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars right here on the Rich Eisen Show. And bravo, bravo. Love it. Use Travis Hunter. Rich Eisen here for Gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much.

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45:55Rich Eisen:What goes through your mind when you hear everybody wants one of you? Everybody's trying to hire a coach that's you. They've got to get this guy that's you. They want one of you. What do you think of when you're in it? What goes through my mind is it's flattering and humbling, Rich, but it's a result of the success we've had as a team. It's just like, but you know what, though? It is true, though. We've got great coaches on our staff. We've got good players. There's so much in alignment with Les and his group. It's a great reflection of our organization and what we've done. I think that's the biggest thing.

46:28To see guys that we've worked with over the last couple years get opportunities with Matt and with Zach Taylor, they're deserving of it because of what they've done on their own merit. When they go in and compete for jobs, people say, man, we can see this guy leading our organization.

46:41Rich Eisen:I'm looking forward to seeing those guys thrive. Have you told Kingsbury that he has a job because of you, too? No, that's the, Cliff got his deal on his own. Okay, no, I'm sure he did. I know you had, you know, you were knocking on his door too to join your staff. I know that. So you, you pantsed him, of course. I got him good, didn't I? Yeah, you told that to Schefter. I did. You totally, what did you do to him? Well, basically, you know, we, he obviously has a preexisting relationship with Patrick Mahomes. He was out here doing some things and Cliff was having dinner with him and a group of people.

47:14and we have a mutual friend, and I tricked him into thinking that, you know, he was tampering and that he was going to lose some picks. It was—

47:21Rich Eisen:That's when you changed somebody's name in your phone to Roger Goodell? I did. Our mutual friend, he— So it showed up on this phone? I couldn't let this go on too long. So our mutual friend, a guy named Chaz Gessner, I put his number in my phone as Roger Goodell and had him send me a text that said, you know, hey, this is tampering. You know better than this. You guys are both, you know, and I showed it to Kingsbury, and I said, you know, Mr. Goodell, he never texted me. I said, you better call Steve Kahn right now. And his face, he was like, he said, I thought I was going to throw up. He's like, that's wrong.

47:57I mean, I couldn't let it go on for more than 30 seconds. It was a good but a bad joke, man. I mean, he's like, you ruined dinner, man. But it was. You know what?

48:06Rich Eisen:Just hearing you with Kingsbury and just seeing you with Les Snead and seeing you with Weddle, And I feel like that episode of Seinfeld where I'm hanging out with all the beautiful people and all the great hair right now. You know what I mean? Right. All these hair guys. I feel like I'm in a different club.

48:25Rich Eisen:YouTube.com slash Rich Eisen Show is the home to our program. Closing in on our 11th anniversary. Our full archive goes way back in the day. I love Sean McVeigh. Yeah. What's not to love? Nothing. He's the best. Check out our full archive right here on the program. You doing all right over there? You good? I'm just letting everyone know we're down to two Thin Mints now. Two. Did you have another one? I did. So, again, are you checking on me because of the Thin Mints? Just take them all. Why? It's like, oh, I left one. Just take them. Just eat them. You want them. You're going to go back in the next break and get another one.

49:11That's why I didn't have two now. But just bring them to your desk.

49:15Rich Eisen:I don't want to. How pissed would you be if they're not there when you go back? I wouldn't be pissed at all. I don't know. There's a good chance. I'm going to take one when I go back. This is a work environment. This is a work environment. I'm just letting everyone know there's two left now. Croskins, can we get more? Can we get more?

49:37Rich Eisen:I believe it's Hoskins' knees If I'm not mistaken Let me just say something Let me just say this Bravo Liam Cohn I love it I know you love it but Rich No no no I do not take for granted Stop May I pick up what I'm sensing from you It's just like it's Travis Hunter Of course you're going to do it Rich Like, Rich, they traded up a first-rounder in last year's draft to go get the guy who can play both sides of the football. Why wouldn't they do that? Because so many teams and so many new head coaches get timid sometimes. Sometimes they don't put it out there. Sometimes they don't speak it into existence.

50:21Rich Eisen:Sometimes they don't come on the Rich Eisen show and say, this is the plan. This is what we're going to do. We are going to play them on both sides of the football. That's what we're going to do. As a matter of fact, I'm going to openly talk about it. Bravo. That's the way I want it. That's the way I want it. In this year of our football lord 2025, in this sports world, you need to differentiate yourself, even when you're the National Football League. And there is a unicorn sitting down there in Duval County in Florida. and they are just going to let him go. And I love it. I love it. Let's go.

51:06Rich Eisen:He said basically what? There's 75 offensive snaps in the game. Let's give him 80 % there. We'll play him more on defense. Let's go. And yeah, maybe he can be offensive and defensive rookie of the year. Speak it, Liam Cohen. Speak it. I love it. Honestly, other coaches would be like, I don't know what the plan is. We're going to see this. We're going to see that. We'll see what he can handle. oh, we'll see what's on his plate. No, no, no. He can handle what's on his plate because Dion created the plate for the kid. And yeah, the kid knows how he can do it. The kid's been doing it all along and we're not going to hold him back.

51:46Rich Eisen:The only way we're going to hold him back is because he wants more and we're like, okay, we're the adults in the room. We can handle what's on your plate for you. But guess what? It's going to be full enough. I love it. I love it. Can I for a slight pushback? Please. And you know what? Akbar could be a much better person to discuss this than me, seeing as he's actually done this professionally. But I feel you're like you want him out there 100 plays a game. Don't you worry about wearing him out at some point? I mean, I realize he's a unicorn and people haven't done this, but that's a lot to put on this kid.

52:21Rich Eisen:And like I was saying to you guys earlier, let's just say there's plays where he gets just blasted going over the middle on a slant, and then he's got to come out and guard, like, wide receiver one and have that happen multiple times during the game? I don't know. I just kind of feel that might be a little tough on him. But, again, I don't know, and it's just a thought that. He's 21. He's 21 years of age. And at some point, maybe he'll play one side of the football only. But until that point, you've got him, and you can show off to the world, including when they go to London, to take on the Rams, interestingly enough, what you do with somebody like this, that you're smart enough as a coaching staff, nimble enough as a front office to surround him with the roster and the coaches who can nurture what we have seen at the collegiate level and make it happen at the professional level, and we're not going to tiptoe around it.

53:21Rich Eisen:I was pleased to hear that. I thought I might get from Liam Cohn, well, we don't know. We're still working on it. Work in progress. You know, maybe more on offense. We'll work him in on defense a little bit more. No, no, no. No. His plate is full the minute he shows up to work to the minute he goes home. And then I'm sure the plate's full when he's there too at home. Fantastic. Talk about it. Speak about it. Don't be afraid of it. Make it happen. And Deion was saying when we were in the draft evaluation period, any head coach that doesn't want to play him on both sides of the ball, don't draft him.

53:58Rich Eisen:And as a matter of fact, you're going to want to play him both because if you're behind in a game, you've got your best offensive weapon standing next to you. And if you're ahead in a game, and you're going to have your best defensive weapon standing next to you, no. Liam Cohen's like, let's go. Let's go. Love it. Do the ball. It's real good, baby.