When the Jacksonville Jaguars signed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive lineman Robert Hainsey this March, it was clear how much of an influence head coach Liam Coen had.
The pair spent the 2024 season together in Tampa as Coen completely turned the Buccaneers’ rushing attack around and developed one of the best offenses in the NFL.
And while Hainsey played a backup role, Coen learned enough about the veteran lineman and former starting center to know he was a player he can win with.
“You get in there and they had struggled to run the football for a few years, right? He had been the center of that, and that was not something he was just, like, ecstatic about, right? He had he took that personal,” Coen said this week at the NFL’s annual league meetings.
“He was really one of the voices in that room that I thought stood out all the way through and consistent as a leader, and as somebody that does things the right way, communicates at a high level, and when he does get on the field, plays his ass off. That’s what he’s done.”
Hainsey took on a new role with the Buccaneers as a backup last year after two years as the starting center. With first-round pick Graham Barton taking over, Hainsey stepped up instead as one of the leaders of the offensive line room, support Barton and also being ready whenever his name was called.
“Obviously, worked with Robert for the last year, really feel strongly about his leadership, the communication, and when he played for us this year against the Saints, go and watch that tape and you could see he was playing to prove it,” Coen said.
“He was playing to say, man, this is who I am. This is how I play it. Didn’t work out for him this year, ends up, Graham Barton wins the job and plays, but how he mentored that situation and that relationship while also communicating to the rest of the offense, that was really why we ended up wanting to go and do that.”
Barton is set to play a big role for Coen and the Jaguars this year, and he proved he could do it by how he handled himself in 2024.
