Jaguars' HC Liam Coen explains how Dyami Brown pairs with Brian Thomas Jr. at WR

USA Today

01-04-2025

Jaguars' HC Liam Coen explains how Dyami Brown pairs with Brian Thomas Jr. at WR Jaguars' head coach Liam Coen recently explained how Dyami Brown will pair with Brian Thomas Jr. and the rest of the offense.
How does the addition of Dyami Brown to the Jacksonville Jaguars' offense pair with Brian Thomas Jr. and the rest of that unit?
Head coach Liam Coen recently highlighted at the NFL's annual league meeting how the addition of Brown can help Thomas expand his role within the offense--something that is a priority for Coen this season.
In short, having Brown on the team, who adds another vertical presence to the offense, gives the Jaguars an additional player who can be that downfield threat. This, in turn, then allows Thomas, who Coen wants the offense to run through, to handle other responsibilities and more frequently attack other parts of the field.
'I think it's just another ball in hand athlete who can also take the top off the defense," Coen said of Brown on Action Sports Jax via Big Cat Country. "We can't have it so that BT is always running vertical down the field or we're not going to be able to target him quite as much.
"You start to get further and further down the field, sometimes that percentage goes lower and lower. So, okay, we added a piece that helps get somebody else down the field where BT doesn't have to be that."
If Thomas isn't going to be stretching the field as often this season, that presence within the offense is still needed. When a defense respects an offense's ability to push the ball, it forces them to spread out and protect against the downfield throw, and that can then open up opportunities underneath and over the middle of the field.
With that said, Brown isn't only a deep threat. As Coen says, he has the ability to make defenders miss in space. So the opportunity to get him the ball on designed touches or near the line of scrimmage in space very much exists as well.
"He does something that I can't coach," added Coen, "he makes people miss in space, right? At the end of the day, we can get people open. We can design and scheme things. We can coach open field running and sideline running, but it's typically a trait they have that they can go out and do that I have nothing to do with.'
Brown's 308 receiving yards during the 2024 regular season were a career high for him. However, he would have a huge postseason, which included totaling 89 yards in the NFC wildcard round and 98 yards in the divisional round.
Brown finished with 229 yards and a score while averaging 16.4 yards per catch over those three games, according to PFF.
As GM James Gladstone said recently, the Jaguars certainly see an ascending player in Brown, and his skill set fits well with the direction this offense is headed under Coen.