Jacksonville’s Week 1 prep has a little extra static to it, and Liam Coen isn’t pretending otherwise. The Jaguars are opening against a Browns team with a fresh staff, a new offensive setup under Todd Monken and a defense run by former Atlanta Falcons defensive pass game coordinator Mike Rutenberg. That means a lot less certainty than coaches usually like this time of year.
Coen said the Jaguars have some sense of Cleveland’s tendencies, but not nearly enough to feel comfortable guessing what’s coming. “I have no idea what [Rutenberg's] gonna play defensively.
Like, I really don't have a clue. You have an idea of some of the things that maybe they've done before in the past.
You go back and look, but, you know, they have a little bit of - I don't wanna say an upper hand - but they have our tape from last season. I don't have tape from last season of his defense, right?”
Coen articulated on ahead of Week 1.
That uncertainty is part of the Week 1 deal, and Coen knows it. Jacksonville wants a fast start, both for the tone it sets and the momentum it can build, but he also isn’t interested in turning one game into a season-long verdict.
“I think you always want to start off fast, right? You want to start fast, you want to win for momentum purposes, for whatever the next steps are. But there are so many teams that obviously have poor starts and end up having really good years,” Coen explained.
“I mean, we got a game tonight, so it's wild to say that we're here. It's here.
It's now. We want to try to stay in the moment, but yeah, it's important to have a fast start and to set the tone.”
What gives Coen some calm in all of this is his own comfort level. Entering his second year as head coach after a 13-4 rookie season, he says the job feels more familiar now - from the weekly rhythm to the game-management decisions that come with Sunday.
“I think you're settled a little bit more in terms of the operation, the weekly schedule, the rhythm, the routine, the game management aspect of it and trusting and knowing the guys that you've hired, you believe in, that you trust that are going to be on the same page about maybe some of the ways that we want to be in terms of aggressiveness, not aggressiveness, punt, no punt, field goal, all that stuff,” Coen explained.
“And to continue to be able to adjust and adapt to how the game's going. But I do think that you have a routine in place that we feel has worked and that's where I feel a little bit more settled, I would say, in terms of just trusting our process that, 'okay, we do feel like it works.' Our process works.”
One of the more intriguing names on Cleveland’s side is tight end Harold Fannin Jr., and Coen made it clear he’s paying attention. The Browns took Fannin in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft, and he responded with 72 catches for 731 yards and six touchdowns in his rookie season.
“I'm a huge fan of his. I loved him coming out of Bowling Green... I watched him block, I think it was [Green Bay Packers outside linebacker] Micah Parsons on a duo and he was in line and he held his own and had a statement there and it was a good run,” Coen said of Fannin.
“Then, you see him flexed out running wheel routes and option routes and then he goes all the way out to be the single receiver and is running daggers and like 20-yard ins. So, I think it's a good fit for [Monken] and what he likes to do.”
Jacksonville also still has a couple of health questions hanging over Sunday. Right tackle Cole Van Lanen and running back LeQuint Allen remain uncertain after Van Lanen’s late-season knee injury and Allen’s training camp issue. Coen said both are likely headed toward game-time decisions.
“We'll kind of take it all the way up [until] game time with that one. You want to get him in. You want to be able to get him some work, get him some reps, get him feeling confident in a game-like setting, missing the joint [practices] and all those kind of [opportunities] that our other guys obviously had throughout the training camp,” said of the team's starting right tackle.
“But I've really liked his mindset. I've liked the way he's attacked, putting himself in maybe precarious positions and owning it.”
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Liam Coen has already had a chance to study Verses style, and the Jaguars know the challenge is not just the name on the back of the jersey. Verse has given Jacksonville trouble before, and with Cleveland building its opener around a player who can tilt protection plans on his own, the Jaguars will have to be ready from the first snap or risk seeing an old problem show up in a new place. [Read more 🡒]