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Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Coen using NFL Combine to 'get into the weeds' with each other
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- Jacksonville Jaguars, Liam Coen using NFL Combine to 'get into the weeds' with each other
INDIANAPOLIS — The Jacksonville Jaguars are at the NFL Scouting Combine this year, and it's the first time in a long time either head coach Liam Coen or general manager James Gladstone have attended the annual event.
To that end, Coen looks forward to the opportunities presented this week, including creating more continuity within his coaching staff, which was finalized Monday .
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In addition to the team's initial staff for the 2025 season, Coen added three offensive assistants , including assistant offensive line coach/run game specialist Keli'i Kekuewa and offensive assistants Trevor Mendelston and Fred Walker.
He also added senior defensive assistant Bill Sheridan and a brand-new Strength and Conditioning staff led by former Buffalo Bills strength and conditioning coach Eric Ciano. Ciano is the team's director of strength and conditioning. He will be joined by assistant strength and conditioning coaches Paul Jackson and Lanier Coleman.
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Ciano had been with the Bills since 2010, starting as an assistant special teams coach for a few years before becoming the team's head strength and conditioning coach in 2013. The team parted ways with Ciano for undisclosed reasons after the 2024 season.
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Ciano replaces long-time Jaguars strength coach Cedric Scott. Scott had been with the team since 2012, beginning as an assistant strength and conditioning coach before being promoted to director of strength and conditioning in 2022. The team opted not to bring him back after this season.
At the Combine on Tuesday, Coen was asked about the team's new strength and conditioning lead and what went into the decision. Coen emphasized experience.
"Eric Ciano has been very well respected throughout this profession for the last, obviously, 15 years. He's a Springfield College grad. A ton of those guys have ascended throughout the strength and conditioning world. Just the veteran experience, right? Everybody's talking about young and inexperienced. Well, I felt like it was critical more so just in there to get somebody that's done it for a long time," Coen said.
Coen was alluding to the narrative surrounding the youth of the team's coaching staff and front office. Coen is 39 years old, while general manager James Gladstone is just 34. Both are in their positions for the first time.
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"We have to get through the AFC, right? We're going to have to go play physical and I think that was something that we looked to develop a little bit more in terms of that mentality. How we want to play our game, our style and brand of football. He was critical to that hire," Coen added about Ciano's hire.
With the team's coaching staff completely set, Coen is taking this week to get through meetings, basically setting up Jacksonville's headquarters in Indianapolis for the next several days.
Liam Coen sees NFL Combine as opportunity to 'get into the weeds' with his staff
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars speaks to the media during the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center on February 25, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The Jaguars haven't been together long — not the team's coaching staff and front office.
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It's been only a few days over a month since the team parted ways with former general manager Trent Baalke . It's been almost exactly a month since the team agreed to terms with Coen to become the team's head coach.
Gladstone held his introductory press conference Monday and met with reporters for a second time Tuesday at the Combine. The team's coaching staff just got finalized.
Gladstone joked during his presser Tuesday that he is living in Indianapolis for now, unable to have time to find a dream home in Jacksonville yet.
To that end, Coen and the Jaguars are using this week to get to know each other while evaluating free agency, the NFL Draft and the team as a whole.
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"This has been a great opportunity for our staff to really kind of get in the weeds with each other. We just really kind of finalized this staff, and it's been a great op [opportunity] for us to be able to get into the weeds. We're really just working from Indy," Coen said.
"We've taken our whole process, what we would be doing in Jacksonville right now, and taken that to Indy. We're doing, obviously, some of the free agent meetings, going through the draft, and then also, obviously, doing some schemes, some football, and getting with the coaches. So, it's been a great transition so far and really kind of—we're really happy to be here."
Gladstone echoed Coen's sentiments, explaining that it will help the team build some "connective tissue" between each other.
"I haven't been to the Combine since 2019, but there's an extreme value to the Combine and the event that's put forward," Gladstone said Tuesday at the Combine, referencing his time with the Rams . The Rams do not travel to the Combine, or haven't since 2019.
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"Now, with that, I think the fact that we're a new coaching staff, a new general manager working with our scouting staff, this is a great opportunity for an offsite and just building some of the connective tissue that otherwise wouldn't necessarily exist because we'd just be in our normal mode of operation in Jacksonville."
The Jaguars are meeting basically at all hours, working with the team's pro scouting staff and coaching staff through initial conversations about the roster and the pro-free agent landscape, while also looking toward the draft.
"So, it's a great dynamic at this stage and really looking forward to more that comes with the rest of the week," Gladstone added.
Jacksonville's time in Indianapolis will be primarily centered around the team getting to know each other, while also participating in what the Combine brings, which also includes giving the team's coaching staff to make connections of their own through networking opportunities.
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Jacksonville's work is still in its infancy but Gladstone doesn't think the team is behind the eight ball at all.
"It's really no different from a timeline standpoint. During this week, if we were with the Rams , we'd be having pro-free agent dialogue. That's what we're currently doing with the Jaguars. So, there's no real difference from that front," Gladstone said.
Demetrius Harvey is the Jacksonville Jaguars reporter for the Florida Times-Union. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @Demetrius82 or on Bluesky @ Demetrius .
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars' Liam Coen: NFL Combine the ultimate ice breaker
