Liam Coen recently highlighted an important element of the Jaguars’ passing game in the new offense.
The Jacksonville Jaguars’ passing game is going to run through wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., as head coach Liam Coen has mentioned this offseason on a few occasions.
However, while Thomas is what will make everything go for the Jaguars’ passing offense, spreading the ball around, particularly early on, will be an important part of the equation for Coen’s system.
“We’re going to spread the ball out, hopefully equally,” said Coen on Tuesday. “That was the nice thing about being last year with Tampa, and we had to play a lot of different players in different personnel groupings.
“I think you look just naturally right now at Parker Washington and Dyami Brown at the receiver position, and then saying that Brenton Strange hopefully continues to ascend. How do we use our two running backs to be able to supplement some of that usage, right?”
Of course, the Jaguars will want to make sure that Thomas gets steady targets, but by spreading the ball around, that in turn, can help take some of the attention off of him as well, helping to create more one-on-one opportunities.
If defenses know that the ball could go to a number of different players on any given play, it forces them to spread out and creates advantageous matchups for not only Thomas, but other pass-catchers within the offense to exploit as well.
“(If) We can get more people involved in the game, especially early on, so defenses can’t just cloud BT and be all over him, that we do have other guys that can go win and be explosive with the ball in their hands, and ultimately share that wealth and share that playmaking ability.”
Having a variety of skill sets within the offense also allows for pass-catchers to be moved around pre-snap, along with them being able to attack different levels of the field.
As Coen mentioned last week, having Brown’s downfield ability within the offense frees up Thomas to be utilized in different ways while still ensuring there is still the all-important downfield presence within the passing game.
All of this should then benefit Thomas as well as quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
When Coen says that there needs to be more balance around Lawrence, how the offensive scheme deploys the various pass-catchers and utilizes them is one way in which the playmaking burden doesn’t constantly have to fall on the shoulders of Lawrence and Thomas. The game plan can do some of the heavy lifting and help create some of those opportunities that they can then capitalize on.
“Once the ball is snapped from the beginning of the game and within the first quarter, if you haven’t touched the ball, it’s a hard one to continue to get through,” Coen added. “So how do we get all of our playmakers a touch early on, to get them going and get them involved in the game? Those guys that I just mentioned, right now, are guys that we’re going to spotlight.”