Liam Coen isn’t pretending the Colts’ roster changes don’t matter. He knows exactly what happened, and he knows it could tilt Sunday’s matchup in Jacksonville’s favor a bit.
With Indianapolis having dealt away offensive lineman Quenton Nelson and defensive lineman DeForest Buckner, the Jaguars head coach said the timing is hard to ignore. Jacksonville is set to face the Colts on Sunday, and the opponent now looks far more focused on the future than on chasing wins this season.
Still, Coen made it clear he doesn’t want his team wasting energy on the other sideline’s decisions.
“Obviously really good players that I have a lot of respect for. Quenton Nelson was playing some of the best football of his career, as was Buckner in a lot of ways - extremely disruptive in both the run and the pass, tipped balls, created some issues inside,” Coen said.
“It’s two good players, you can’t deny that. But knowing what that team is going to want to do, this has to all be about our improvements, us getting back on track.
Got a good division opponent that we’re playing at home, and the focus level, getting in pads today, has to be about our execution, our fundamentals and technique, because you can’t control that stuff and if you think about it too much it typically doesn’t help.”
Coen was also asked whether he thought Jonathan Taylor could be next. He didn’t sound like he expects that move.
“You try not to get into that world because it’s just rat poison either way,” Coen said. “And also a part of you wants to beat good teams, you want to beat opponents that provide strong competition, as this team does.”
Even with the Colts’ recent trades, Coen said Jacksonville has to treat Sunday like a real fight. He pointed to Philadelphia’s short-handed effort a couple weeks ago as the reminder.
“Philly a couple weeks ago had a lot of guys out and played us to the last second,” Coen said. “In this league, any given Sunday, we all know anything can happen.”
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The Colts have spent the offseason signaling that the reset is more than a tweak, and moving on from DeForest Buckner only sharpened that message. Buckner had been one of the most established pieces on the roster since arriving in Indianapolis in 2020, a three-time Pro Bowler who gave the defense some credibility even as the bigger picture around the team kept shifting.
Indianapolis sent Buckner to San Francisco in exchange for a future draft pick, continuing a run of roster decisions that also included trading Quenton Nelson and clearing cap space. For a franchise trying to redraw its identity, the moves point to a longer-view approach, even if it means parting with proven veterans and leaving plenty of questions about how the lineup will look when the dust settles. [Read more 🡒]
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Cam Skattebo is also dealing with a minor injury, which only sharpens the concern around a unit the Giants can ill afford to patch together on the fly. With a 4-2-1 record and first place in the division, they have managed to keep the season moving in the right direction, but the running back rotation is suddenly a problem they will have to solve without much margin for error. [Read more 🡒]