If the Jacksonville Jaguars get the kind of 2026 season they’re chasing, Liam Coen may be back on the hunt for new coordinators before long.
That’s the tradeoff that comes with winning in the NFL. Success tends to put your assistants in demand, and the Jaguars are already staring at that possibility with offensive coordinator Grant Udinski and defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile. A deep playoff run in Coen’s second season could easily turn into a spring of head coaching interviews for both men.
That wouldn’t be a small loss. It would be the kind of staffing shakeup that tests the whole operation. But it also would be a sign that Jacksonville’s model is working the way Coen wants it to.
Udinski and Campanile already drew attention last cycle, combining for five head coaching interviews even though both were only a few weeks removed from their first seasons in those jobs. For Jacksonville, that alone marked a shift. The franchise has not often had coordinators poached for head coaching opportunities, so even being part of the interview conversation felt different.
The interest makes sense. Both coaches are well-liked, both have earned strong reviews from Coen and the locker room, and both led units that were productive and clearly better than they were a year earlier. Coen made the right hires the first time, and now he may have to prove he can keep doing what Sean McVay has done in Los Angeles: replace talented assistants without losing the edge.
McVay has built a coaching tree of his own, with Coen among the assistants who moved on to head coaching jobs. That kind of track record starts with identifying the right people in the first place. If Udinski and Campanile keep rising, Coen will need to show he can reload as well as he can hire.
The Jaguars would need to back up the hype in 2026 for any of this to become a real issue. Their 13-4 finish and Wild Card berth last season gave both coordinators a chance to get in front of multiple owners, and there’s reason to believe that kind of momentum would open those doors again if Jacksonville meets expectations.
SI.com’s Gilberto Manzano ranked the Jaguars’ Grant Udinski-Anthony Campanile pairing No. 3 among the NFL’s best offensive coordinator/defensive coordinator duos, trailing only the Los Angeles Rams and Denver Broncos.
“Jaguars coach Liam Coen likely wasn’t too upset about his guys missing out on head coaching jobs this offseason. The Jaguars now have the luxury of continuity with their two excellent coordinators returning for a second season. Udinski’s lack of experience (he turned 30 this year) probably hurt him in this hiring cycle, but he has a strong résumé, including his role as a valuable asset with O’Connell in Minnesota,” he said.
“The young coach also unlocked another level in Trevor Lawrence’s game last season. He learned to utilize more of his weapons (Parker Washington, Brian Thomas Jr. and Brenton Strange all recorded at least 500 receiving yards) and became a dark-horse MVP candidate once he found his comfort zone in the new offense, tossing 15 touchdowns with only one interception over the final six regular-season games.
Campanile quickly gained attention for his aggressive approach, which helped the Jaguars get off to a fast start and accumulate 31 takeaways, the second most in 2025. Coen likely will lose his coordinators if they continue winning in Jacksonville.”
That’s the heart of it for the Jaguars: continuity now, ambition later. Coen has already shown he can put together a staff that works. If his coordinators keep climbing, he’ll probably have to do it again.
For now, though, Jacksonville gets the rare luxury of bringing both men back for a second season. And that only happens because they’ve already proven they’re the kind of coaches other teams want.
In Other News...
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The Jaguars are spending training camp sorting through their defensive end rotation, and one of the more interesting subplots is the push from an undrafted rookie who turned heads during the spring. He arrived with a productive college rsum at South Carolina, where he finished his final season with 38 pressures and seven sacks, and that kind of disruption has kept him in the conversation as the roster starts to take shape.
The path to a spot is still crowded, with several players already jockeying for position in the same group, but Jacksonville has seen enough from undrafted defenders recently to keep the door open. For a team trying to find the right mix on the edge, the question now is whether that spring momentum can carry into camp and make the battle tighter than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Jaguars Veteran Signing Faces A Real Roster Squeeze In Camp
Ameer Abdullah arrived in Jacksonville in May with the kind of veteran resume that can help a camp battle: more than a decade in the league, a recent stop with the Colts and the sort of versatility teams like to have tucked into the back end of a roster. After spending time on injured reserve with San Francisco and then finishing last season in Indianapolis, he enters Jaguars camp trying to show he still brings enough value to stick around.
The challenge is obvious, though, because Abdullah is fighting for a limited number of spots at running back and will need to carve out a role beyond offense to separate himself. If he does make the 53-man roster, his path likely runs through special teams, where his experience could matter on kickoff returns and in multiple units, but Jacksonvilles roster math will determine whether that opportunity is even there. [Read more 🡒]
Trevor Lawrence Put Together A Notable Finish In Tahoe
Trevor Lawrences trip to Tahoe ended with a finish that at least pointed in the right direction. The Jaguars quarterback tied for 48th at the American Century Championship with a net zero over 54 holes, a modest but meaningful step up from his tie for 75th place a year ago as he continued to navigate the annual celebrity golf event.
Lawrences final round included an 87, and he managed to trim down the double bogeys that had piled up earlier in the tournament. It was not the kind of leaderboard run that threatened former tennis player Mardy Fish, who won with 72 points, but for Lawrence it was a cleaner ending and a small sign of progress in a field that can expose even the most competitive athletes. [Read more 🡒]