HEAD COACH LIAM COEN
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
MAY 9, 2026
(On what he can learn about OL Emmanuel Pregnon in this setting) “Yeah, just trying to get
to know him personally a little bit, what makes him tick, the learning curve, how he learns
best, whether it’s in the meeting room setting or you go into the walkthrough. Okay, how
does that change or adapt in his learning process? And then ultimately when you get on the
grass, how he handles it and takes coaching. So, I’ve been impressed with him in a small
sample size in terms of care factor and asking and communicating things on the grass and
in the huddle. Just been impressed by that so far.”
(On RB J’Mari Taylor) “Yeah, I think the word you said, production. When you looked at him
against some of the I guess you’d call it top backs in the draft, production against the same
teams and what that looked like I thought was pretty impressive. Obviously, the season that
Virginia had, a lot of it had to do with his success and his ability to both affect the game in
the run and the pass game as well. So, people just slip, like bounce off of him in ways. He
forced a lot of missed tackles and he’s super sharp.”
(On if he watched QB Joey Aguilar’s college tape) “I watched him. Yeah. I think Joey’s done
a nice job of learning a lot of information in a short period of time. Especially so much
different than he is used to, right? Just from a cadence standpoint, that’s something that
he’s had to get used to doing over the last 48 hours. I think he did a nice job of running the
show, if you will. Handling, I mean these weren’t all just call it and run it plays either, like we
had Cans and Oscars in there and I think he did a nice job operating. I thought he threw it
better today, probably. He’s never thrown to these guys ever, so it’s hard when you’re asking
them to be perfect and no balls on the ground in timing and rhythm. I think it’ll be fun to see
him open it up a little bit with the guys next week.”
(On where the tight end position was on his draft priority list) “It was up there. It was
definitely up there. We kind of went into it looking back at – not necessarily our group as a
whole as why we need more – it’s more, I mean, we had two active for three, four games,
whatever it was. And that’s just not a world I want to live in and what it limits you. I really
appreciate Chuma [OL Chuma Edoga] and Cole [OL Cole Van Lanen] for doing that stuff,
but you limit what you can do. I was really excited about this draft class of tight ends. I think
there were a lot of really good ones. I think we got two really good ones as well.”
(On what the rookie tight ends bring to the room) “Yeah, I think not only what they can
maybe provide within their skill sets but also what it then allows the other guys to do, right?
Like what that allows Strange [TE Brenton Strange] to do differently or more frequently,
whether that’s running or blocking or catching. The diversity of skill sets is important. I think
they’re different enough but also wired similarly. That’s what I think is fun about it, it allows
not only those guys to go help us in their own skill sets, but also maybe help other guys in
their skill sets just by adding that depth and competition.”
(On what he likes about players that have transitioned from corner to safety) “Yeah, I think
you look at obviously some of the trends in the NFL and some of those heavier groupings
and what you have to combat that with is making decisions whether you’re going to go
heavier at linebacker and go bigger people, or are you investing a little bit more in some of
the bigger skill players on defense? That big skill that can play maybe at the safety position,
drop down to the big nickel, play some dime WILL. I think that’s something that’s important
to us. It’s been important to us really before all these trends kind of started, was that
multiplicity and ability to play different positions. And it also helps you on special teams
when you have big, longer athletes at DB that can match up with whether it be tight ends,
linebacker type bodies on special teams, is really important.”
(On veterans helping the large group of rookies acclimate) “Yeah, we were all starting off so
fresh at that time and that was exactly what I mentioned to the vets on Thursday with them
was, ‘Man, when these guys get in here on Monday and get integrated with you all, I need
you all to set the standards and show these guys what our standards are of how to operate
in the meeting room settings and walkthroughs and practice because we need them. We
need them to come along as fast as possible.’ You saw it last year with the amount of
rookies that played for us and made an impact and contributions, so yeah, they’re
competing with each other for spots, but man, we need every single guy.”
(On his impression of OL Emmanuel Pregnon) “Yeah, large man. Some of that you can’t
coach, right? And when you have big, strong hands and heavy hands as an interior
offensive lineman, I think is super helpful to the cause, especially in pass protection to be
able to snap things off. And then when you are put in some one-on-one positions up front,
being able to not just get stalemates, but potentially move that person in the other
direction. So hard to tell, obviously. Physically, you would think he can do it and based on
the film playing at a high level in college, he did display those things. So, very difficult to get
a true evaluation, as I said last year around this time about the offensive line, but care
factor, intentionality, communication, learning, that’s what this is all about.”
(On new additions to the coaching staff) “Yeah, I have experience with [Run Game
Coordinator Brian] Picucci and I’ve known [Defensive Pass Game Coordinator Mathieu]
Araujo from afar for a long time. Just the ability to come in seamlessly in terms of
communication and speaking the same language, right? So Rauj [Araujo], automatically
when he walks in, knows so much of Campy’s [Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile]
defense. Some of the differences and tweaks maybe they made in Miami after Campy left
that was pretty seamless. And love Rauj’s juice and enthusiasm for the game and passion
for coaching. Obviously B.P. [Picucci] coached me and so he’s definitely a little bit
mellowed from then. The northeast in him hasn’t come out yet, but the teacher details, I
think him and Shaun [Offensive Line Coach Shaun Sarrett] have done a nice job of working
through things in the offseason together to get us to a point where once we hit the grass,
we’re rolling.”
(On the energy level at OTAs thus far) “It’s wild, day one, the difference a year makes. We
should be further along, closer to the way we were playing towards the end of the season
than we were a year ago, right? And that’s the expectation and standard. But when they did
come out on the grass, you saw it, you felt it. The routes on air were way more crisp, clean.
It just felt like the minutiae, the easy, the things that we call quote-unquote easy. Throwing
routes on air, operating a can, an Oscar, an alert, things like that on air or against no
defense was very seamless. It was easy, guys just breaking the huddle. Now we can
challenge them formationally a little bit more at this time, challenge them more above the
neck now that they kind of know how to operate.”
(On the reaction to where TE Nate Boerkircher was drafted) “Yeah, unfortunately, it’s kind of
I guess what I said after – I don’t know, it’s not coming and we don’t really care. So, it’s
about our consensus and what we believe in this building about each player and how they
fit in and character matters, personal and football character matters. The mental, the
learning, how much they can take in a short period of time to go be able to get on the grass
and go play. I wouldn’t say either of our offensive or defensive systems are quote-unquote
easy, so we do value players that can do different things and be able to go mentally play the
game fast.”
(On TE Nate Boerkircher’s experience in college) “You can tell he’s got a calming
confidence about him. Extremely locked in, in the meeting room setting. I knew some guys
at Nebraska, and I’ve talked to some guys at A&M. In the weight room, the way he attacks
things, the way that he works… very serious about his craft, very serious about playing
football and getting better. So, I think he fits right in and guys like [TE Brenton] Strange and
those guys in that room already that are workers and wired that way, I think will only help.”
(On many draft eligible players having transferred schools) “It’s just life now. It’s pretty
normal now. It’s weird for us because you do have to figure out why. Why are they moving
from school to school? And typically, we like to see the guys that have maybe ascended
throughout their transfers and they’re going to maybe go play in better competition or what
they deem is putting them in a position to be successful and leveling up. James [General
Manager James Gladstone] has said that a number of times and I think that’s something
that a lot of these guys have done that that we ended up bringing in here. But yeah, the
transfer world, we’re living it, man.”
(On adding two tight ends via the draft) “I think the interesting thing about the tight end
position or getting bigger is if you can get a bigger grouping on defense, but your tight ends
have the ability to spread out and do different things in the pass game, well, you can
present 13-personnel pictures or even 12. I like 12 a lot personally, but you can also present
11-personnel pictures, 10-personnel pictures, spread open, empty formations. Now you’re
just challenging the defense in base defense to have a lot more calls. You have to have a lot
more checks, a lot more adjustments. And look, I believe that there is going to be an uptick
probably in the NFL next year in heavier personnel groupings. I’m not sure we’re going to
over rotate to a point where we want to get slower or less explosive. We still have some
pretty damn good wideouts that I like to use, so I just think it’ll be interesting to see the
trends.”
(On the team’s pass rusher depth) “Hard for me to really give an eval[uation]. All I know is
about B.J. [DL B.J. Green II] and Danny [DL Danny Striggow]. B.J. was here yesterday working
out in there. Probably sizing [up the rookies], ‘Hey man, he isn’t taking my job.’ [Laughs]. I
told these guys last week in the meetings, I said, if you all are looking around worrying
about a rookie taking your job, you’re probably in the wrong room. And that’s specific to
those two because they were undrafted and worked their asses off to earn every snap that
they got. Played veterans a little bit less to get them an opportunity based on special
teams. And so, I think there’s probably some similarities in these four guys that you just
mentioned. Hard for me to differentiate at the moment. I think there is similarities in how
they’re wired like that, underdog. Man, I’m going to prove what I’ve got, how I can play, how I
can earn these opportunities. We’ll see. That’s the beauty of competition.”
(On the 2026 schedule) “Relatively quickly. It just gives you something a little bit
competitive to build on and start to just get your mind going. Your focus, as soon as the
season hits, it’s so internal, right? You’re just everything self-scout, self-scout, worrying
about ourselves and I want to keep that focus the same, but I think it just gives you a little
bit of excitement. Something to start diving into that we can start to almost incorporate in
our offseason program is, alright, let’s throw some stuff that we know we’re going to install
right? And things that we know we’re going to run that may be something that pops up on
tape that we would envision knowing that we’re going to run in Week 1. Well, let’s start to
sprinkle that in throughout the offseason and see what that looks like. Maybe even throw it
up against some of the looks that we could present. Well, Week 1, I’d say probably towards
the end of minicamp we’ll do blitz, BPU, just the offense against all of our Week 1 opponent
pressures. We won’t tell them probably in that moment that these are opponent X’s third-
down pressures, but we will card them, we will script them, we will rep them out here
without them knowing.”
