Hays Carlyon's Jaguars Blog

Gus’ Midnight Mailbag: Who will Liam Coen hire as defensive coordinator?

todayJanuary 28, 2025

Background

Welcome to the latest edition of the Midnight Mailbag! I’ll be asking for your lingering Jaguars-related questions each week on 1010XL’s Facebook and X/Twitter pages, with the submission deadline set for 11:59 p.m. the same day.

Here were your questions following Liam Coen’s introductory press conference.

From @NashJagsNats22 — Who do you think Liam Coen will target as the next defensive coordinator? Who would you personally like to see fill that role?

Coen said during Monday’s presser that changing the franchise into a consistently winning culture “starts with the alignment and communication at every level. Building, first and foremost, the best staff we can … with the front office, how do we continue to build there and get this thing fully in alignment so that then when we go into the offseason program, we’re all on the same page, we all understand the vision and the goal? When I walked into the Los Angeles Rams building in 2018, I had never felt anything like that before in my life. It was a different introduction to coaching, and you saw a building, every single person that was in that building and a part of that thing was in alignment. I think that’s the key.”

Coen wants a defensive coordinator who shares his vision for how the Jaguars will play, which he described in his opening statement as “fast, fundamentally sound, attacking, situational masters, and tough, both mentally and physically.”

Jacksonville has held interviews with Patrick Graham (46 years old), Aubrey Pleasant (n/a, roughly 40) Daronte Jones (46) and Anthony Campanile (42) for its defensive coordinator vacancy. My favorite of the group is Graham.

Part of it is that I’ve heard much more about him than the other candidates, but Graham also has the best pedigree. He helped the Patriots win Super Bowl XLIX as a linebackers coach on Bill Belichick’s staff and has served as an NFL defensive coordinator for the past six seasons. His defenses haven’t consistently ranked near the top of the league, but when you consider the talent he’s worked with, Graham cleary maximizes his players. (K’Lavon Chaisson had a career year under Graham in 2024.) That should appeal to Coen, who stated “it is players over plays” on Monday.

Plus, pairing a 39-year-old head coach with a vetted defensive coordinator makes a lot of sense. Robert Saleh and Jonathan Gannon are the only fist-time defensive coordinators to reach the Super Bowl since 2016. The recipe for success is evident.

Hire Pat Graham.

Written by: Gus Logue


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