SATURDAY, 10:30am: The two sides have reached an agreement, per Greg Auman of Fox Sports.
FRIDAY, 8:05am: As coordinator dominoes continue to fall, Liam Coen is set to head to Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are nearing an agreement with the Kentucky OC to take over their offensive coordinator gig, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. 
Once in place, the deal will allow Coen to return to the NFL game after his second stint in charge of Kentucky’s offense. Between his college stints, he spent time on the Rams’ staff working with the team’s receivers and quarterbacks, along with OC responsibilities in 2022. Coen did not call plays when he was part of Sean McVay‘s staff, but he will likely do so under Todd Bowles.
Tampa Bay enjoyed a relatively successful run on offense during Dave Canales‘ one-year run as OC. His quick career ascent recently included taking the Panthers’ head coaching position, creating a vacancy at the offensive coordinator post for the second straight year. Now, the team has a replacement on tap.
With Canales on the HC radar, a report listed Tampa QBs coach Thad Lewis as a name to watch with respect to a promotion. Amidst interest from several other teams, Lewis did indeed interview for the Bucs’ vacancy. That meeting did not produce an agreement, however, and it will now be Coen making the jump back into NFL circles to take on his second pro coordinator gig.
The latter worked alongside Baker Mayfield during his Rams audition period in 2022, and the pair are believed to have a strong relationship. For that reason, it came as little surprise when Coen joined the list of Tampa Bay candidates with his interview yesterday. Mayfield is a pending free agent, but this hire could help the chances of a new contract being worked out.
Tampa Bay is seeking a multi-year Mayfield agreement, though talks on that front have not started. The former No. 1 pick had one of his most productive seasons under Canales in 2023, a coach with which he did not have a previous working relationship. Having a familiar face in place could be beneficial, although the Mayfield-Coen Rams pairing did not last long in the closing weeks of the 2022 campaign. That season, the injury-riddled Rams finished last in the league in total offense and 27th in scoring.
Improvement in both categories will be the goal in Coen’s second opportunity to lead an NFL offense. The 38-year-old will inherit a unit which ranked 20th in scoring in 2023. Struggles in the ground game continued from past years, and taking step forward in that regard would be a welcomed development moving forward. Questions remain, however, about the future of Mayfield and wideout Mike Evans.
Tampa Bay conducted one of the most wide-ranging searches in this year’s hiring cycle, and the team waited until many others made their hires to reach agreement on their own. Coen nonetheless represents an intriguing addition to the NFC South winners as they look to repeat this year’s success.
College coaches are fleeing to the NFL. That’s due to NIL. They can’t build rosters anymore in college. Players transfer too much to have stability. Free agency in college is a whole new world and college coaches are taking notice of it.
Or he could have just wanted the nice raise and an opportunity to actually call plays in the NFL
It’s alot more difficult to build consistent and reliable depth is what I see as a big issue.
I think the biggest issue is the non-stop schedule. NFL coaches get a few months off, college coaches and especially college assistants are grinding basically all year recruiting and coaching.
Except, now, they have to continue to recruit their OWN PLAYERS, which to me is crazy.
Teams are constantly trying to poach other teams’ starters and their reserves, and unless you’re a major program you’re basically acting as their minor league feeders..
The 12 team playoff makes things a little more unpredictable, but the biggest money schools are going to continue rising, while others settle for mediocrity..
Well, Mayfield looked a lot better for the Rams last year than he did for the Panthers. Now he gets reunited with his Rams offensive coordinator.
I guess this is a good hire, I don’t know
I still don’t understand how Canales can be given a job by the Bucs
Do a good job and flee after a year and take coaches with him
That makes no sense to me
cud fail miserably, kinda reminds me of dirk koetter sitch. good oc, bad hc. big contract too. good luck panthers
Lefty_Oriole, what’s not to understand? Canales was the OC who did a good job, interviewed very well apparently, and was offered one of 32 head coaching positions after the Panthers sought permission from the Bucs to interview him. He accepted. And as often happens when a new HC is hired other coaches from his former team who were no longer under contract (with TB) chose to follow him to Carolina. Everything that I have read and heard about him was what a great communicator and positive person he is. The coaches who left TB chose to go with him and their contract status allowed it. I wish it wasn’t the case but Canales earned the right to be promoted and the others earned the right to follow him. That’s life. If the Bucs wanted to stop the others they could have they could have if they were under contract or if they wanted to try and re-sign them. That makes perfect sense.
Maybe, I have paid attention too much to the situation, but I don’t think I have ever seen where an OC has come in from a different organization and then was made a Head Coach elsewhere and took coaches with him after one year
Quite frankly, the Buccaneers let the Owner and the rest of the Panther Organization off the hook
The Panthers owner has some issues apparently and the Bucs let him off the hook and Canales has a book out? I didn’t know that either
I just SMH
And now the Bucs have a new OC, we will see how that works and if Mayfield stays