New offensive coordinator Liam Cohen is getting rave reviews from Bucks’ upper management behind the scenes at the AdventHealth Training Center. The team’s new play-caller comes to Tampa Bay with two years of experience calling plays at the University of Kentucky and a few games before taking over Sean McVay’s play-calling duties in Los Angeles at the end of 2022. motion.
Following Baker Mayfield’s press conference last week, Cohen told reporters the Bucs’ new system has some conceptual similarities to former offensive coordinator and new Panthers head coach Dave Canales’ system. He provided an update on how the implementation of the offense is progressing with the coaching staff.
“We’re on a good trajectory right now,” Cohen said. “Most of the general information is going to be the run game and then the pass game, but everything will be in place by the time the players get here. Where we are right now and where our staff is, everything. We’re very happy with how things are coming together. Obviously, we’re trying to have a little bit of continuity with people that we’ve worked with in the past and people who are already in the system. It’s very familiar, so it should be a seamless transition.”
Cohen will be absent from the NFL Scouting Combine and new We hired some position coaches.
Bucks WR coach Brian McClendon – Photo courtesy of USA Today
Besides quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis and running backs coach Skip Peete, Coach Cohen has revamped Tampa Bay’s offensive coaching staff this offseason. Cohen worked with new offensive line coach Kevin Carberry in Los Angeles and new assistant offensive line coach Brian Picucci at Kentucky. Both have the offensive experience of Cohen and will play a key role in the development of second-year guard Cody Mauch and the players Tampa Bay drafts this year.
The Bucs hired wide receivers coach Brian McClendon from Georgia. He has an impressive and proven track record in developing young receivers. Players like Georgia’s Ladd McConkie, Texas’ Adonai Mitchell, Oregon’s Troy Franklin, and South Carolina’s Xavier Leggett are all considered second-day draft picks and have been drafted at various times over the past few years. He has been trained by McClendon through extensive coaching. Young receivers like Trey Palmer and Rakim Jarrett could take big steps in 2024 under McClendon’s tutelage.
Coach Cohen recently hired former Falcons tight ends coach Justin Peel, who brings a wealth of technical knowledge to the position. Peel played tight end in the NFL for 11 years and helped make Kyle Pitts a Pro Bowler during his 2021 rookie season. He is expected to make the Bucs’ tight ends better blockers and help the run game.
Bucks OC Liam Cohen – Photo by Matt Matera/PR
With the addition of Paire, former tight ends coach John Van Dam will transition into a passing game assistant role, which is his specialty. Van Dam will work with new passing game coordinator Josh Grizzard, who came to Tampa Bay after spending seven years in Miami as the Dolphins’ receivers coach and quality control coach. Grizzard played football at Yale and, like them, is smart and will play a key role in Cohen’s passing attack with fresh ideas and concepts.
“Even though he’s in his fifth year in the NFL, he’s a little bit younger in terms of experience,” said Cohen, 38. “What I want are players who work hard, who work hard, who take this seriously. Guys who want to be the best at their position.
“Obviously, we want guys to aspire to improve. I’ve always had aspirations. But, you know, we want our wideout coaches to be the best wideout coaches they can be. But I also don’t want to be a passing game coordinator. I want guys to own their position groups.”
Liam Cohen is having the ‘most fun’ he’s ever had coaching
tampa bay offensive coordinator Liam Cohen Although he has yet to set foot on the turf at One Buccaneer Place, he has been meeting with and coaching Bucks players on his own. Phase I of the offseason program, which begins with weightlifting and conditioning, will not begin for several more weeks after April 15th.
Rams HC Sean McVay, Bucs OC Liam Cohen, Rams QB Matthew Stafford – Photo courtesy of USA Today
Still, Cohen and his staff meet eight hours a day during the week to watch film, install playbooks, and collaborate to add new plays with input from each coach. . So far, Cohen is really enjoying himself, even though his work has been limited to the boardroom.
“Coaching here has been the most fun of my career,” Cohen said. “The last few months have been really the last months. It’s the same feeling I had when I went to Kentucky for the first time, it’s yours, it’s ours as a unit. And when you collaborate and… , I’m bringing in words and terminology when we can do things together. But if what they did last year fits with that and I can adapt to that, then the rest of the building It’s better than parts having to adapt to just one person. Since then, I’ve really enjoyed coaching. Well, it’s been a while.”
Cohen spent four years working with Sean McVay as an offensive assistant in Los Angeles from 2018 through the 2020 and 2022 seasons. He had the opportunity to run his own room at Kentucky during the 2021 and 2023 seasons, serving as the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator and play-caller. But this is Cohen’s first opportunity to take on that title and responsibility at the NFL level, and he’s relishing the moment.
“I didn’t do this completely on my own. It was Sean’s deal.” [in Los Angeles] We helped teach it and I helped him,” Cohen said. “It’s more about leadership. It’s not about me, it’s not about it (the attack system) being mine. It’s about being a leader and maintaining a cooperative state of mind, an environment. We can do it, and that’s what this place is about.”
The Bucks like what they’ve seen from Cohen thus far in terms of his work ethic and the high level of football IQ he brings to Tampa Bay. The hope is that the Bucs’ offense can hit the ground running with some continuity and carryover from last year, but at the same time without the learning curve that Dave Canales had to endure as a play-caller for the first time last year. They are expected to have more success early in the season. .
“Yeah, Dave’s positive attitude got us through some tough times, but Liam is a hell of a football coach and a hell of a football coach,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “There’s no football coach.” “I’ve been watching him coach for the past three years. I’m very confident in what he can do. [I] Don’t expect him to be like Dave. I don’t think there’s anyone else like him since joining the company. You have to have your own niche. We always say there’s another way to skin the cat, there’s another way to win the ballgame.
“And he has a system that I really like. He has an intelligence that I really like. He has an understanding that I really like. Some of the concepts are It’s the same, but to some extent it’s a different attack. But some people’s terminology is probably at least half the same. But I like his new ideas. I like what he brings here. I like the energy of this young staff member, and I’m looking forward to meeting him.”
Bucks QB Baker Mayfield and OC Liam Cohen – Photo courtesy of USA Today
If Cohen is having the most fun of his coaching career right now, he’s taking to the field with a pair of 1,000-yard wide receivers, Pro Bowl quarterbacks Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Just wait until you see Baker Mayfield again. The opportunity to coach these stars was a big reason why Cohen wanted to leave Kentucky for a chance to call plays in Tampa Bay.
“There’s no question about it,” Cohen said. “That’s a big part of it. I’ve used some very good wide receivers in the past, but never a true X. [like Evans], a real guy who can line up one-on-one and win no matter where you are. That’s fun, right? It’s a tool. That’s a piece of this whole puzzle. As soon as this week’s work begins, the defense will need to plan for it. Therefore, it is something that can be used to your advantage in various ways.
“Look at Chris. [Godwin]look at Tristan. [Wirfs] and you see rashad [White] and you see kade [Otton] And it’s fun to plan it because you see some of those pieces and you obviously see the guy pulling the trigger. ”
If Tampa Bay can improve its scoring output from 21 points per game and make significant strides in the running game in Cohen’s system, the Bucs’ offense will definitely have more fun this season.
“Liam is a very bright guy,” Bowles said. “Kentucky had a hell of a rushing game, but he was with Sean McVay and he had a hell of a passing game. He knows both. He understands that. I’m very confident he’ll do a good job as he gets more comfortable and sees how he fits with the players.”
