The Jacksonville Jaguars coaching search is unlike anything maybe ever seen in the NFL.
It appears they are close to getting their man for the head coaching job, reportedly zeroing in on Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
But the road to this point in the search has many twists and turns.
Here’s what we know so far:
Jaguars firing GM Trent Baalke seemed to change scenario
The drama seemed to all start when Coen reportedly decided to pass on Wednesday’s scheduled second, in-person interview and stay with Tampa Bay.
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According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Coen, 39, agreed to become one of the highest-paid coordinators in the NFL by passing on the second interview with the Jaguars.
Albert Breer of Monday Morning Quarterback/Amazon reports that the Bucs’ new deal with Coen was agreed to on Monday — but was incumbent on Coen not taking the second interview in Jacksonville.
After the Coen news broke Wednesday, Jaguars owner Shad Khan announced that he had fired general manager Trent Baalke, who seemed to survive for another season after the team let go of head coach Doug Pederson just 16 days earlier.
Liam Coen seems to have second thoughts on Jaguars job
According to the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Coen “went dark” on the Buccaneers after the two sides agreed to a huge contract extension. Coen couldn’t be reached as the team wanted to iron out some final details on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reports that Jaguars ownership called Coen directly and said that Coen would be able to pick his own general manager. And she said that the team is offering Ben Johnson-level money for a lot of years to take the job.
How much is Ben Johnson money? Well, the former Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, who was among the virtual interviewees for the Jaguars job, got a reported $13 million a year from the Chicago Bears, according to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, well above the customary $8 million or so a first-time NFL head coach has received.
The highest paid coordinators reportedly make around $3 million a season.
Buccaneers finally catch up with Liam Coen
According to the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Stroud, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles finally spoke with Coen around 5 p.m. Thursday, about an hour before the Coen-Jaguars news broke.
Stroud said that Coen told Bowles that he had been with one of his kids at the doctor’s office. But Coen did briefly mention the Jaguars job, saying he was looking into it.
Are others still interviewing for Jacksonville Jaguars head coach job?
At the start of this week, the Jaguars announced that three men would have second, in-person interviews with the team for the head coach job: Coen, Patrick Graham and Robert Saleh.
Graham, the former Las Vegas Raiders defensive coordinator, was scheduled to meet with the team on Thursday, though it’s not clear that happened.
Saleh, the former New York Jets coach who was the Jaguars linebackers coach from 2014-16, reportedly did not board his plane destined for Jacksonville on Thursday. He instead, according to multiple reports, agreed to become the San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator, the job he held before he was hired by the Jets.
Since Thursday’s Coen news broke, it is unknown if the Jaguars have expanded their search past the 10 men they have had first interviews with, which included the since-hired Johnson and Aaron Glenn (Jets).
