Jaguars head coach Liam Coen and General Manager James Gladstone are heading into their second draft in Jacksonville, and this year they feel a lot more settled into their jobs.
Last year, Coen was hired late in the postseason and Gladstone was hired just before the Scouting Combine, and they were still getting to know each other and getting their staffs settled in while also preparing for the draft. Coen said this year, everything is established and all the focus is on the task at hand.
“A little less frantic, I guess you could call it, in terms of how fast everything happened last year and getting not just the scouting staff onboarded, but the coaches then onboarded to new procedures and modes of operation,” Coen said. “So, I think just some of the familiarities really helped just the flow and the way that we operate on a day-to-day basis, the schedule, the routine, what the coaches expect. That’s been very clear and concise throughout the process and I think it’s just allowed us to maybe get to different or deeper dialogue maybe a little bit quicker on some of the guys that we’re really honing in on.”
Gladstone echoed that sentiment.
“This time last year we were in true discovery mode. We were learning on the fly,” Gladstone said.
Coen and Gladstone had an impressive first year, taking over a 4-13 team and going 13-4 in Year One. Now they’re firmly established and preparing for a draft that they hope sets them up to take the next step in 2026.
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