It’s no secret that one reason the Jacksonville Jaguars hired former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen as their new head coach is that those running the Jaguars believe Coen can help fifth-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence make a major leap in his development.
While speaking with reporters at training camp on Wednesday, Lawrence discussed how he and other quarterbacks on the roster were given a timed, 100-question quiz regarding the offense when they reported for camp on July 19.
“It was pretty difficult,” Lawrence said about Coen’s test, as shared by Michael DiRocco of ESPN. “Some of [the questions] were some layups, but, yes, there were some good questions in there, some tough ones that kind of get us back going for camp and get the mind going and all the stuff you have to do as a quarterback. It was good. It kind of encompassed our whole offense, whether it’s scheme, protections, it was a lot of stuff that was good to do as one of our first days back to kind of make sure we’re ready to go.”
Coen is the third full-time head coach Lawrence has had since the Jaguars made the 25-year-old the first pick of the 2021 NFL Draft. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield enjoyed the best campaign, to date, of his career while playing in Coen’s offense last season, and the hope for Jacksonville is that Lawrence will prove to be a quick learner this summer.
Lawrence said on Wednesday that he was responsible for “a couple bad answers” as he got 15 of the 100 questions wrong. He has plenty of time before the Jaguars open the regular season with a matchup versus the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 7 to ace Coen’s quiz.
While Lawrence signed a five-year contract extension worth up to $275M last offseason, he has been the subject of some trade rumors ever since he was shut down in early December to undergo shoulder surgery. He dealt with “general soreness” in his throwing arm back in June, but Juston Lewis of the Florida Times-Union noted that Lawrence insisted on Wednesday he’s feeling “the best [he has] felt in a long time physically.”
Earlier in the summer, Lawrence acknowledged he knows he has to “really turn it on” following a disappointing 2024 season that the Jaguars ended with a record of 4-13. It sounds like Coen plans to have Lawrence hard at work through the end of the preseason.
