Jaguars Eyeing Ben Johnson, Liam Coen, Joe Brady As HC Candidates

According to Jeremy Fowler, the Jaguars are eyeing a trio of offensive coordinators among their list of head coaching candidates, including Detroit’s Ben Johnson, Buffalo’s Joe Brady and Tampa Bay’s Liam Coen.

Given Jaguars owner Shad Khan‘s comments today about wanting to be more creative and unpredictable on both sides of the ball, these candidates all make sense. 

It will be interesting to see if Jacksonville’s decision to retain GM Trent Baalke impacts their ability to land any of these candidates. Johnson in particular has been selective over the past two years and will not interview with every team this year. 

Johnson, 38, started his coaching career with Boston College in 2009 as a graduate assistant. From there, Johnson coached tight ends for the 2011 season.

The Dolphins hired Johnson in 2012 as an offensive assistant and he was later promoted to assistant quarterbacks coach in 2013.

Johnson coached tight ends and wide receivers with the Dolphins until 2019 before the Lions hired him as a quality control coach. He coached tight ends for the Lions in 2020 and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2022. 

In 2024, the Lions offense ranked No. 1 in yards per game and No. 1 in points per game, including No. 2 in passing yards per game and No. 6 in rushing yards per game. 

Brady, 35, began his coaching career in 2013 at William & Mary as their linebackers coach. He later became a graduate assistant at Penn State and spent two years with the Saints as an offensive assistant.

LSU hired Brady as their passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach for the 2019 season. He left after one year to become the Panthers offensive coordinator but was fired before the end of his second season. The Bills hired him as a QB coach in 2022 and was promoted to offensive coordinator when Ken Dorsey was shown the door last November. 

In 2024, the Bills’ offense ranked No. 10 in total yards, No. 2 in points scored, No. 9 in rushing yards and No. 9 in passing yards.

Coen, 39, got his start in college coaching at Brown in 2010 working with quarterbacks. He had stints at Rhode Island, UMass, Maine, and Brown again before making the jump to the NFL as an assistant WR coach with the Rams in 2018. 

He moved to assistant QB coach in 2020, then was hired away by Kentucky as their offensive coordinator in 2021. The Rams hired him as offensive coordinator for the 2023 season but he opted to return to Kentucky as their offensive coordinator/QBs coach. 

He made his return to the NFL in 2024 when the Buccaneers hired him as their offensive coordinator.

In 2024, the Buccaneers’ offense ranked No. 3 in total yards per game, No. 4 in points scored per game, No. 4 in rushing yards per game, and No. 3 in passing yards per game.