JACKSONVILLE - One day after a 33-10 demolition of the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium, Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen put the brakes on any notion that the AFC South leaders would make a splashy move before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, warning that locker room culture must drive any decision.
“You can’t just reach and grab,” Coen said Friday, addressing the media as the Jaguars sat at 6-2 and holding a three-and-a-half game lead in the AFC South. The team has won two consecutive games and four of their last five, going 19-6 in their last 25 regular-season games.
Coen said every potential acquisition gets filtered through a two-part test. “Does this player make us better or not? Yes or no?” he said. “And then, ‘Is it going to fit what we’re going, how we operate, the locker room?’ All that stuff is very important with it.”
The need to address the roster is real. Season-ending injuries have claimed left tackle Anton Harrison, nose tackle DaVon Hamilton and safety Eric Murray in recent weeks, and Coen acknowledged that “a lot of conversations” are underway. But he cautioned against moves that prioritize short-term gain over long-term stability. “You have to look at it more so in an entirety than just in the interim,” he said. “How does it affect things moving forward: cap, future, other players, how we can re-sign - or not - other guys? There’s so much that goes into time of the year.”
Coen pointed to last season’s midseason acquisition of wide receiver Jakobi Meyers from the Las Vegas Raiders as the model for the right kind of deal. “That was one of those that really just fit,” he said. “You’re always looking for that fit and it’s so much about the person, the competitor, the football character.”
He also stressed the importance of transparency with the current roster. “[You also have to be] cognizant of the group you have in the locker room and making sure the guys all know in the building, ‘Hey, we’re trying to do all we can as an organization to make the best decisions for the group and for our team,’” Coen said.
Amid the trade talk, second-round rookie tight end Nate Boerkircher has quietly emerged as one of Jacksonville’s most reliable weapons. His 52-yard reception on the second play of Thursday’s game set up a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Bhayshul Tuten and a 7-0 lead the Jaguars never surrendered. Boerkircher now has nine receptions for 144 yards and two touchdowns this season, following a one-handed, 1-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Trevor Lawrence in Week 6 and a 31-yard scoring grab in a 42-7 Week 7 rout of the Indianapolis Colts.
“Football kind of makes sense to him that way,” Coen said of the 2026 NFL Draft pick. “He is athletic enough to run down the field and do some of those things and adjust his body at the catch point. Trevor has confidence in him. He is doing what we expected him to help us do. He is definitely hitting a little bit of a stride here.”
The NFL trade deadline is Tuesday, giving Coen and the Jaguars front office a narrow window to act - or stand pat - before the roster locks for the stretch run.