JACKSONVILLE – Senior writer John Oehser wraps up this week's 2025 NFL Annual Meeting at The Breakers Palm Beach with Los Angeles Rams Head Coach Sean McVay discussing Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen…

1. High praise. The Jaguars' new decision-makers consider the Los Angeles Rams a "North Star" franchise moving forward, and Rams leaders praised those decision-makers this week. "I'll certainly be a Jags fan," Rams Head Coach McVay said Tuesday morning during the NFC Coaches Breakfast when discussing connections with Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen and Jaguars General Manager James Gladstone. Coen spent 2018-2020 as a Rams assistant, then spent the 2022 season as Rams offensive coordinator – a season McVay this week called "my most challenging year I've ever had in coaching." The Rams finished 5-12 that season and dealt with injuries throughout -- including 12 different offensive line combinations in the first 12 games of the season. "At the time it was not fun, but I think we would both say so much growth occurred for us both having to go through some really hard stuff," McVay said of Coen, who was hired by the Jaguars in January. "You challenge a lot of things you're built on, that you're about. It revealed some things in me and I know it was hard on him. We're a lot closer for having gone through it. It made us both stronger. I think he'll do a great job with the Jags." Added Coen, "We didn't win, but we still had to compete, so that was a fun experience – although not the best year in my life."
2. More McVay on Coen. Coen is considered a top developer of quarterbacks, a strength McVay said was evident with the Rams – and again last season when Coen was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive coordinator. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield last season passed for a career-high 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. "[Coen] has really good understanding and relatability to that quarterback spot," McVay said. "There's an ability to say, 'How can I make the most difficult position as easy as possible? How can I have an understanding of exactly what they're going through?' That's why you saw Baker play at such a high level. I expect him to do the same thing with [Jaguars quarterback] Trevor [Lawrence]." McVay, too, praised a group of Jaguars coaches that he called a "great" staff. "He always has seen the game from a big-picture perspective," McVay said of Coen. "That's the first thing you say when you're talking to one of your buddies [about being a head coach], 'Hire a great staff.' Just because you're the head coach doesn't mean you have to have the answers to everything and you don't have to do everything. You have to be able to lean on people. You're not in it alone. He should have a ton of confidence to be able to build on what a great job he did as a play caller and then adding a couple of responsibilities."
3. Three-level player. Among 10 unrestricted free agents the Jaguars signed last month: Dyami Brown, a wide receiver who ascended rapidly late last season in his fourth season with the Washington Commanders. Brown caught 14 passes for 147 yards in his final four regular-season games in 2024 and followed that with 14 receptions for 229 yards and a touchdown in three postseason games, with Coen this week calling him a receiver "able to attack the field at all three levels. He can go down the field on the post, in the go, in the pylons and be the top shelf, but also you can throw him a screen and he can go and do something with it. I can't coach that. I can't coach you to go and make three people miss after you've caught the ball. At the end of the day, we're getting the play so you can go be you with the ball in your hands. That's what he can do. Hopefully, he'll be able to help us at all three levels. He's hungry. He's coming off a successful end of the year. He wants to continue to do that."
4. Culture of growth. Coen this week reiterated a point he made upon taking the Jaguars’ position – that the Rams' culture under McVay is something he wants to emulate in Jacksonville. "When I walked into that building in 2018, I had never felt anything like that that before – just the continuity, the positivity, the true, 'Hey, how are you?''' Coen said. "It really meant something. He (McVay) stepped in that building and was truly himself every single day. You have a real conversation with Sean McVay every time you interact. That's what ultimately makes him a great recruiter and surrounds him with unbelievable people." Coen said he applied that personally with the Buccaneers last season, saying: "I wasn't trying to be somebody else. I was really just trying to be myself, and if everybody does that, good things typically happen, and you build good relationships." Asked if the Jaguars are building toward that, Coen said: "I think we are. If you look at the way we set things up, it's built for people to elevate and grow. We want win games right now for the Jacksonville Jaguars. That's priority number one for these coaches, but I'd be silly not to say that I want them to develop and evolve and grow. That's the goal."