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Jaguars receivers coach Edgar Bennett treasures opportunity to return home to Jacksonville
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- Jaguars receivers coach Edgar Bennett treasures opportunity to return home to Jacksonville
Three weeks after the NFL season ended, Edgar Bennett was already packed up for a long-awaited vacation to Dubai, not quite sure if he would continue his role as receivers coach on Pete Carroll's new staff with the Las Vegas Raiders .
With Bennett having one year left on his contract and future employment uncertain, the Jacksonville native got a phone call that still leaves him at a loss for words.
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It was Liam Coen , the Jacksonville Jaguars ' newly hired head coach, who wanted to engage in a conversation with Bennett about possibly coming to work in the same position for his hometown NFL team.
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At that moment, the former NFL running back could have been knocked over with a feather. He couldn't believe the head coach of the Jaguars, with whom he had no previous relationship, was inquiring about Bennett continuing his 24-year NFL coaching career in his hometown.
"I was still kind of in a holding pattern," Bennett told the Times-Union recently in an exclusive interview at the Jaguars' Miller Electric Center. "Teams can put in slips and requests to talk to you, so a lot was going on.
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"But I didn't even think [coaching for the Jaguars] was on the radar, that it was even a possibility until things started to line up."
Green Bay Packers running back Edgar Bennett (34) looks for room against the Jacksonville Jaguars defense during the second quarter of an NFL game at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium on September 24, 1995. [Gary T. Clark/Florida Times-Union]
Luckily for Bennett, the decision by Carroll to not retain his services turned out to be a blessing. It opened the door for Bennett to resume his NFL career in familiar surroundings.
Follow-up phone conversations with Coen ensued, and Bennett is still pinching himself about the outcome: For the first time since 1986, his senior year as a Lee (Riverside) High running back, his football career will bring him back to Jacksonville.
"It's hard to put into words, man," said Bennett. "Once we got on the phone and started talking ball, then giving me the opportunity to come home, it was like a dream come true.
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"To this day, I really can't put into words what it truly means that Coach Liam gave me an opportunity to be part of something special here in Jacksonville. I just wish my Mom and Dad were here to see it."
Jacksonville Jaguars' receivers coach Edgar Bennett is one of coaches on Liam Coen's staff who has a Super Bowl ring and the only one to earn a ring as both a player and coach with the Green Bay Packers.
Bennett's versatility served him well
Nearly four decades after leaving Jacksonville to play at Florida State, then a combined seven pro seasons with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears , the 56-year-old Bennett has forged what will soon be the longest running NFL coaching career of anyone from Duval County.
This will be Bennett's 25th season on an NFL coaching staff, which began as Director of Player Development with the Packers in 2001.
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The only Jacksonville high school product to match Bennett's 24 years as an NFL coach was the late Earl Leggett, also a Lee graduate and longtime defensive line coach for six different teams (1976-99).
Four years after former Packers head coach Mike Sherman hired Bennett for player development, he made him the running backs coach. Bennett would be retained for 13 more seasons in Green Bay , also serving as a receivers coach and offensive coordinator under Super Bowl-winning boss Mike McCarthy.
He went to the Raiders in 2018, working for three different head coaches, before the Jaguars' Coen pulled him home.
Bennett's coaching career has followed a similar path as a player. Back in high school, the late legendary Lee coach Corky Rogers and then offensive coordinator Wayne Belger encouraged Bennett, a fullback, to stay after practice to catch passes to increase his collegiate value.
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"Being a fullback in our offense, he didn't get many opportunities to catch passes because we were so good running the football," said Belger. "He was hit or miss as a receiver at first, but he learned by working at it."
That would later prove invaluable to his NFL career in more ways than one. Bennett still holds the Packers' single-season running back record for most catches (78, 1994) and yards (648, 1995), and that versatility helped him add to his value as a position coach.
"It definitely factored into it," said Bennett. "Had I not been catching those passes after practice, I would have never become the player I was at Florida State in coach [Bobby] Bowden's system, then transitioning into the pros."
What Bennett didn't know at the time was how his pass-catching ability would later enhance his coaching resume. And now gives him a chance to coach maybe the Jaguars' most promising receiver since Jimmy Smith.
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"I was excited for him to come home," Belger said. "It seems to me wherever he goes, his receivers seemed to have a pretty good year, so he's doing something right."
Bennett likes 'dog mentality' of Brian Thomas Jr.
Beyond a homecoming, one perk about the Jaguars' job that excited Bennett most was knowing he'd have the chance to work with Brian Thomas Jr.
Getting to work with the Jaguars' Brian Thomas Jr. was one of the big appeals for Jacksonville native Edgar Bennett to accept the job as the team's receivers coach.
After coaching standout receivers like DaVante Adams , Greg Jennings and Donald Driver, the expression on Bennett's face when the conversation turned to Thomas led to a one-word response: "Whew."
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Bennett got his first live glimpse of Thomas during the Jaguars' 19-14 loss to Las Vegas on Dec. 22 when the rookie wideout caught nine passes for 132 yards, including a 62-yard TD from backup QB Mac Jones .
After watching multiple game tapes, Bennett's eyes light up just thinking about what Thomas — he made the Pro Bowl with 1,282 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns — could do in his second NFL season with a healthy Trevor Lawrence throwing the ball.
"When I got here and was able to go through his tape and watch everything, it was really exciting," said Bennett. "When I think about who he is and what he can become, it's even more promising than what he did his first year.
"You look at his mindset on the field. In my talks with him, he's humble, carries himself well and just goes about his business. Then I watch him on tape and it's a totally different attitude. I know people use the term dog a lot, but he plays with that mentality and mindset."
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Beyond his talent, what Bennett admires most about Thomas is his work ethic and lack of a diva attitude. He sees the 22-year-old Thomas as a player that will keep striving to excel to have more success.
"In talking with him and people who are around him, he's the type of kid that wants to put the work in," said Bennett. "I've been around a lot of guys who have put the work in. I see what they've done in their careers when you go about it the right way.
"When you work for it and continue to hold yourself to a high standard of what it's going to take to succeed, I'm truly excited to be a part of that."
Homecoming another proving ground for Bennett
Being hired by the Jaguars also gives Bennett a head start on doing one thing he figured might have to wait until retirement: remodeling his parents' dream house on the St. John's River in Arlington.
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Sadly, his mother, Juanita, passed away in 2022, followed by his father, Edgar Bennett Jr., last year.
While it hurts Bennett to think about them not seeing him coach with the Jaguars, he finds comfort in moving back into their house and eventually upgrading it. His brother, Mark, a Bank of America regional president, lives next door.
"It's a project," said Bennett. "That's where my Mom and Dad wanted to be, and now that's where I want to be." Then he jokingly added: "The rent is excellent."
Make no mistake about Bennett's mindset toward his new coaching gig. While the appeal of coming home is nice, Bennett retains that same inner drive he had trying to show FSU he was worthy of elevating the Bowden dynasty to a higher level.
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In 1992, though it miffed Bennett that he had to wait until the fourth round to get drafted by the Packers, he used that opportunity to fuel a consistent five-year run in Green Bay. He finished with 5,273 yards rushing/receiving and 29 TDs and got inducted into the Packers' Hall of Fame in 2005.
Green Bay Packers running back Edgar Bennett (34) carries the ball past New England Patriots defensive end Mike Jones (96) and Willie Clay (32) during Super Bowl XXXI at the Superdome on January 26, 1997. The Packers defeated the Patriots 35-21.
This next chapter isn't so much about possibly ending his NFL career in Jacksonville. It's about being part of a Jaguars' regime that will hopefully take the franchise to a better place.
"Coming full circle, I look at it no different than being in 'The Backyard' at Robert E. Lee, even though they've changed the name of the school," said Bennett. "My thought process back then, and every opportunity I got to play this game, was to prove myself.
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"I look at this [coaching job] as another opportunity to prove myself as someone who will put the commitment in, go the distance, and do what's necessary to be successful at this level.
"As long as I continue to have the mindset that I'm going to prove myself, then usually good things happen."
LeRoy Butler calls Bennett 'a platinum person'
Nobody has spent more time with Bennett on his football journey than Hall of Fame safety LeRoy Butler. They were teammates for a decade in high school, college and five seasons in Green Bay.
When Butler heard the news about his lifelong friend being hired by the Jaguars, he saw it as an ideal merger because of his impact on people.
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"The first thing I thought was God is good," said Butler. "Edgar's not just a good coach, he's a platinum person. Coming full circle like that, now he's going to coach in the same stadium where we used to play Raines High School in the old Gator Bowl. That's amazing.
"I don't know how it worked out with the Jaguars, but I'm glad it did."
Bennett, the first Jaguars' coach in franchise history from Jacksonville, is the only Green Bay Packer to earn a Super Bowl ring for that storied franchise as a player and coach.
He's been a popular, well-respected presence in every NFL locker room because of his productive playing career, relentlessly positive attitude and trademark smile.
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It's fitting Edgar Bennett III could possibly finish a stupendous football life in the same hometown where it all began. If he becomes part of a Jaguars' franchise that proves it can be among the NFL elite, all the better.
Gfrenette@jacksonville.com (904) 359-4540; Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @genefrenette
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: For Edgar Bennett, coming home to coach with Jaguars is dream come true
