Adam Schefter: Tampa Bay Buccaneers are ‘irate’ over Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars saga

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are “irate” over offensive coordinator Liam Coen‘s decision to take the head coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars, ESPN‘s Adam Schefter said on Friday’s “Pat McAfee Show.”

Schefter, speaking on the saga that transpired Thursday, said he’s never seen a team as “hot and bothered” as the Buccaneers were when Coen informed them he was leaving Tampa Bay.

“In 20 years, this century, since the turn of the century — I don’t remember the last time I heard one team this hot and bothered about a coach taking another deal,” Schefter said. “They were hot. … I don’t remember the last time I heard a team that irate over a coaching decision.”

"Liam Coen has his thoughts and the Buccaneers have their thoughts..

I don't remember the last time I heard a team this hot and bothered about a coach taking another deal..

His side is saying they didn't do anything wrong"@AdamSchefter #PMSLive https://t.co/ooZGZ9v2VA pic.twitter.com/VSUzXHDKES

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) January 24, 2025

Tampa Bay made a huge effort to retain Coen and prevent him from taking a second interview with the Jaguars for their head coaching vacancy. Before Coen was scheduled to interview in-person on Wednesday, Tampa Bay made him an offer that would make him the highest-paid coordinator in NFL history.

The Liam Coen saga explained

Coen verbally agreed to the offer and subsequently took himself out of the running for the job in Jacksonville. But here’s the catch: Coen never signed the contract. Shortly after Coen accepted the offer, Jaguars owner Shad Khan fired general manager Trent Baalke. Suddenly, Coen had a change of heart.

According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Tampa Bay’s front office expected Coen to be at 1 Buccaneer Place to sign his deal on Wednesday. Initial efforts to get in touch with Coen failed and at 5 p.m. ET, Coen called back general manager Jason Licht and asked if he could come in Thursday morning to sign the deal. Licht said that was fine.

Around 10 a.m. Thursday, Coen had yet to arrive to the facility and the Buccaneers had not heard from him. Multiple attempts to reach him went unanswered. At 11 a.m., Coen’s agent called the Buccaneers and informed them that his client was tending to a personal matter.

When Coen finally called head coach Todd Bowles at around 5 p.m., he said he had been with one of his kids at a doctor’s appointment. Coen briefly mentioned to Bowles he would be traveling to Jacksonville to explore the Jaguars’ opening. Within an hour of that phone call, a Buccaneers staffer received information from someone in the Jaguars’ facility that Coen was already in the building. Per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Coen secretly traveled to Jacksonville to meet with Khan without telling his then-employer in the Buccaneers.

Liam Coen informs Buccaneers he intends to take Jaguars’ coaching job

Coen told the Buccaneers Thursday night he was taking the job in Jacksonville, and he and the Jaguars reached a verbal agreement on a contract overnight. Schefter said that from Coen’s point of view, he felt like the Buccaneers “strong armed him into this new deal.”

“I think there’s two different sides to this,” Schefter said. “Liam Coen would tell you he feels like this was his right and by the way, the NFL with contracts — even with a signed contract as a coordinator, it’s within your rights to go take a head coaching job anywhere else you want. I think that he felt like Buccaneers — right or wrong — strong armed him into this new deal.

“And the Buccaneers would say we made him the highest-paid coordinator in NFL history and when we tried to figure out where he was, we could not find him throughout the course of the day on Thursday to get him to sign that contract. And they say that they reached out multiple times. He says he was in touch with Todd Bowles and informed him of his decision to interview with the Jacksonville Jaguars.”

In the end, Jacksonville got its guy. And in landing Coen, the Jaguars are getting one of the league’s best offensive play callers who crafted one of the best offenses in Buccaneers history in his first year on the job.

Now, Coen will work with talents such as quarterback Trevor Lawrence and receiver Brian Thomas Jr. in hopes of turning things around in Jacksonville. The next step for Coen and the Jaguars is finding a new general manager and filling out the coaching staff.