The Jacksonville Jaguars enjoyed a strong 2025 campaign, but they weren’t able to prevent themselves from getting eliminated in the wild-card round of the playoffs by the Buffalo Bills. With a new regime led by head coach Liam Coen showing promise as the season went along, though, there’s reason for optimism in Jacksonville as the team enters the offseason.
While the Jags are only just getting started on drawing up their plan for the next few months, the rest of the NFL has been hard at work for the past couple of weeks. In the AFC South division, the Tennessee Titans just hired Robert Saleh to be their new head coach early on Tuesday morning, and as it turns out, he isn’t too fond of Coen and the Jaguars.
Liam Coen and Robert Saleh’s Beef, Explained
In September of the 2025 campaign, Coen and Saleh engaged in one of the more confusing beefs of the NFL season during the Jaguars’ matchup with the San Francisco 49ers. After getting fired as the New York Jets‘ head coach early in 2024, Saleh eventually wound up returning to his old stomping grounds in San Francisco as the defensive coordinator on Kyle Shanahan’s staff.
Ahead of the matchup between these two teams, Saleh took a dig at Coen, claiming that he had perfected the art of legally stealing an opposing team’s signs. Coen did not take too kindly to this comment, and after Jacksonville handed San Fran a 26-21 defeat, he confronted Saleh on the field after the game, leading to a heated argument.
Now, Saleh and Coen will be seeing each other at least two times a season for the foreseeable future. And according to a report that emerged shortly after Tennessee hired Saleh, it sounds like he actively sought out the Titans’ job after the Jaguars opted to hire Coen over him last offseason when they were looking for a new head coach.
“Last year, the Jags narrowed their choices down to Liam Coen and Robert Saleh,” Peter Schrager of ESPN wrote in a post on X. “They spent hours with both and chose the former. Saleh, devastated, accepted the news and went to SF. This year, he had eyes on Titans job. He and Nagy spent today interviewing… and it was HIS time.”
Jaguars-Titans Rivalry Could Be Renewed in 2026
GettyJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA – JANUARY 04: Head coach Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars looks on prior to a game against the Tennessee Titans at EverBank Stadium on January 04, 2026 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)
Of course, Saleh isn’t taking the Titans’ head coach job just to get back at Coen and the Jags. Chances are, he was intrigued by the prospect of working with Cam Ward at quarterback after he labored through an uneven rookie season. Saleh is known for being a sound defensive mind, and he will likely look to help Tennessee become the sort of team it was during Mike Vrabel’s time in charge of the team.
Saleh will have his work cut out for him, especially with the Jags emerging as a top-tier team in the AFC South this season. He certainly will be looking to make his mark against Jacksonville, though, and it could set the stage for some very entertaining games between these two sides when they return to action in 2026.
Titans Hire Coach Who Had Intense Feud with Jaguars’ Liam Coen