The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are somehow in first place in the NFC South Division and headed toward a fifth consecutive postseason appearance thanks almost wholly to a resilient offense.
It’s that fact that might propel offensive coordinator Liam Coen into an NFL head coaching position just one season into his tenure, with The Ringer’s Nora Princiotti predicting he’ll be the next head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.
The Raiders and co-owners Mark Davis and former Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady have yet to fire head coach Antonio Pierce, who many believe is in a lame duck position and will be let go after 1 season. The Raiders are currently 2-11 and in the running for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft.
“I think this is shaping up to be a sort of atypical coaching cycle in part because there’s a lack of possible Sean McVay clones that NFL owners can fall in love with,” Princiotti said on “The Ringer NFL Show” on December 11. “But I’m going to give the Raiders the kind of one that I think is out there, and that’s Liam Coen … he’s obviously done one of the more impressive assistant coaching jobs this season in what he’s done with the Bucs offense. The Raiders are sort of one of these blank slate teams, and therefore, I’m kind of going to the default setting, and that’s Liam Coen.”
The Buccaneers have rebounded from 4-6 to win 3 consecutive games and are now 7-6 and in line for the No. 4 seed in the NFC playoffs with 4 games left in the regular season. They play at the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 15 — a possible future AFC West opponent for Cohen.
Bucs’ OCs Moving Into Head Coaching Positions
If Coen does land a head coaching position, it would be the second consecutive year the Buccaneers’ offensive coordinator landed a head coaching job after Dave Canales was hired as head coach of the Carolina Panthers following the 2023 season.
The common factor between the 2 offensive coordinators has been the career resurgence of Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield — something that arguably has had little to do with either Canales or Coen.
Mayfield came to the Buccaneers on a 1-year, $3 million “prove it” contract in 2023 after Brady’s second retirement and had his first Pro Bowl season in 2023, leading to a 3-year, $100 million contract in the offseason.
Mayfield has been even better in 2024, and is fourth in the NFL in passing with 3,329 yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions through 13 games while completing 70.4 percent of his passes.
Raiders Have Made Disastrous Head Coaching Hires
Few franchises in the NFL has as much upside in terms of location and stadium and have delivered as little as the Raiders, with their failures directly tied to their history of disastrous head coaching hires.
The Raiders haven’t won a playoff game since making it to the Super Bowl following the 2002 season and if they do fire Pierce and hire Coen, it would be the fourth head coach they’ve hired in 5 seasons after Jon Gruden and Josh McDaniels.
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Buccaneers’ Offensive Coordinator Predicted as Next AFC West Head Coach