Liam Coen bolted for a head coaching job after spending one season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator. It was well deserved for Coen, who helped elevate the Bucs' offense to a top-five unit in the league with Baker Mayfield under center despite losing star wideout Chris Godwin to a season-ending injury midway through the season.
Coen, who is now in Jacksonville coaching the Jaguars (Duvaaaaaaal?), has a promising future ahead of him, but the Buccaneers will now be ushering in yet another offensive coordinator this upcoming season after promoting former pass game coordinator Josh Grizzard to Coen's former position.
Coen hired Grizzard onto his staff last season and he was an integral part of the Bucs game plan, especially on third downs. Many Buccaneers players have expressed their happiness with the hire, and when speaking with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine this week, Coen also spoke highly of his replacement in Tampa Bay.
“Josh is going to do a phenomenal job. He’s got a really unique way about him to be able to connect with a lot of different people, coaches, players. He’s got a great sense of humor," said Coen. “He’s up there in terms of the IQ, the football knowledge, the ability to see it, design it, and also be able to communicate it to the guys. You know, he’s primed for his. He’s ready for this. And I think he’s going to do a really nice job.”
Coen, who comes from a great coaching tree himself, knows ball and has seen that Grizzard has what it takes to be an elite coach in the league. Grizzard now has experience from the McVay tree after working with Coen this past season, but he hails from Mike McDaniel in Miami, who falls under the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree.
Combining the likes of McVay and Shanahan, Grizzard has a chance to bring in a new and revamped way of running the offense while keeping the main thing the main thing to maintain the continuity of the Bucs' offense that was electrifying in 2024.
The Bucs should have many of the same pieces back on offense that they had a season ago, so weapons will be plentiful at Grizzard's discretion.
