The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got a surprise Victory Wednesday when offensive coordinator Liam Coen withdrew his name from consideration for the Jacksonville Jaguars head coaching job. Coen was set to interview for the second time in person with the Jags on Wednesday, but before he could do so, the Bucs were able to retain him at a hefty salary increase as one of the league's highest-paid coordinators.
Coen rebuked the Jags' imminent offer to become the head coach of their franchise opting for unfinished business and continuity with the Bucs. That includes continuing to work with quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Under Coen, Mayfield had the best season of his career, throwing for 4,500 passing yards and 41 touchdowns. He finished top five in completion percentage and top 10 in passer rating while ending the season third in passing yards and tied for second in touchdown passes. Mayfield also rushed for a career-high 378 yards and three scores and was given more opportunity to call things at the line of scrimmage. What's more impressive is he did that without Chris Godwin for half a season and Mike Evans for three games.
Now, with rare continuity, Mayfield has had the same coordinator just once in back-to-back seasons, Coen and Mayfield can build upon what they achieved in 2024. With a full grasp of the offensive system, the Bucs offense can focus more on technique and refinement than learning a new scheme as they have in the past few years. For Mayfield, that could look like more responsibility at the line — or perhaps it means more involvement in the weekly game plan.
With Coen back in the fold, the stock on Mayfield is going up, especially if the Bucs re-sign Chris Godwin in free agency. With the offense in a good place in terms of talent and continuity, Mayfield has the chance to expand upon the numbers he put up in 2024. The Bucs quarterback spoke on the "incredible job" Coen had done before their matchup against the Commanders, even joking it was "going to come down to a one-on-one at [TPC] Sawgrass for him to decide whether he actually takes the interview."
"Liam has done an incredible job," Mayfield said. "The influence he’s had throughout all the guys, teaching the game of football – I know I’ve mentioned to you guys all year that [he’s] teaching the details of why we’re doing certain things, why we have certain plays alerted or canned, whatever you want to call it. He does a great job of that and then calling the plays to his player's strengths, that’s what good [offensive coordinators] do and he’s done an unbelievable job of that.”
Coen continuously put Mayfield in the best position to make plays regardless of who was on the field and fostered his confidence. He let Baker be Baker and it paid off with a career year. Mayfield knows what he has and was vocal about hoping Coen stuck around. In fact, perNFL Network's Peter Schrager, it sounded like Mayfield even played a part in recruiting Coen to come back for another year.
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