Jaguars' Bold Offseason Has Paid Off Better Than Expected

The Jacksonville Jaguars are 11-4, going into a favorable matchup with the Indianapolis Colts, in which they should find little resistance in getting their seventh straight win. This time last season, the Jags were just 3-12. The strides this team has taken in just one calendar year have exceeded all expectations.

As such, Liam Coen has started to receive a ton of Coach of the Year buzz. There's a deep crop of worthy candidates this year, like the Chicago Bears' Ben Johnson, the New England Patriots' Mike Vrabel, and the San Francisco 49ers' Kyle Shanahan, but Coen is just as deserving as they are, if not more so. However, he's not the only transformative talent the Jaguars added this past offseason.

Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL training camp, Eric Murray, Jourdan Lewis — Jacksonville Jaguars safety Eric Murray (29) and cornerback Jourdan Lewis (2) drill during an NFL training camp session at the Miller Electric Center, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. [Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union] | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Jaguars' 2025 free agency class has been excellent

Liam Coen is the first person credited with the Jacksonville Jaguars' improvements this season, as he should be. With the team built around holdovers like Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne Jr., Josh Hines-Allen, and Travon Walker, it feels like Coen and this new staff have taken the same roster and turned it into a title contender. However, there are a ton of new faces making huge impacts for the Jaguars.

Jacksonville just lost Jourdan Lewis for the season after he underwent surgery to repair his injured foot around Christmas Day. The Jags won't easily replace his production, although Jarrian Jones' ascension will help. Still, even with him out, Jacksonville will continue to rely on its other free agent additions, such as Robert Hainsey, Eric Murray, and Patrick Mekari. Coen spoke about how excited he was after signing his first free agency class with the Jaguars:

Eric Murray's forced fumble on Jonathan Taylor was an excellent team defense play. Like 4 people involved lmao pic.twitter.com/8ocgMAeIK4
— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) December 8, 2025

"Yeah, we were excited about the group that we were able to put together. I think a lot of people were questioning, 'Well, what's this? How is this one not important?' And hey, it just comes down to trusting the process and understanding that we wanted to continue to elevate this place and the people around us, and those guys — a number of them are captains."

"A number of them have been key contributors to our season. And I think it's just a great blend of the pro free agents, the veterans that were here, guys that were here on this roster, collaborating on making this thing to get where it is today. And so, I think that those guys all get along really well. The guys that we wanted to bring in here were football guys that football was very important to them and their lives and their careers, and so that's blended pretty nicely."

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