Liam Coen Says He’s “Definitely Expecting” a Big Year From Bhayshul Tuten Ahead of Jaguars Camp
Tuten Positioned for a Bigger Role
Jacksonville Jaguars running back Bhayshul Tuten is walking into training camp with real momentum, and his head coach isn’t hiding his excitement about it. With camp set to open next week at the Miller Electric Center, Tuten’s name keeps coming up as the Jaguars try to figure out how to replace the production they lost this offseason.
The Jaguars let Travis Etienne walk in free agency, and he landed with the New Orleans Saints. Etienne handled roughly 70% of Jacksonville’s running back carries a season ago. That workload doesn’t just disappear — someone has to pick it up, and all signs point to Tuten getting the first crack at it.
Jacksonville didn’t sit on its hands at the position. The team signed Chris Rodriguez Jr. in free agency, reuniting him with head coach Liam Coen from their time together at Kentucky. LeQuint Allen Jr. also remains in the mix as a bigger-bodied option. But Rodriguez has been working back from injury this offseason, and that absence opened the door for Tuten to soak up extra reps this spring.
Coen’s Praise for Tuten
Speaking on “The Schrager Hour” podcast, Coen didn’t hold back when the topic turned to his second-year back, according to John Shipley of SI.com.
“Yeah, Tuten I thought had a really good spring. You know, year one coming from Virginia Tech, and really was North Carolina Central to Virginia Tech, and man, so he had a little bit of a learning curve too, with the protections and a lot of the things that come with playing running back as a rookie,” Coen said. “You look at the playoff game against Buffalo. You look at some of the other games down in the red zone. He does a great job of finding the end zone, he does, and his yards after contact and rushing yards, man. When he can get going and get downhill, I mean, he was 4.28 coming out. So he can fly.”
That 4.28-second 40-yard dash speed showed up late last season. In the Jaguars’ AFC Wild Card loss to Buffalo, Tuten touched the ball just four times but turned those chances into 51 yards, including three straight runs of 20, 14 and 13 yards that helped set up an early touchdown. It was a small sample, but it was loud.
Across his full rookie season, Tuten carried the ball 83 times for 307 yards and five touchdowns. He also caught 10 passes for 79 yards and two more scores. Not bad production for a fourth-round pick who spent most of the year behind Etienne on the depth chart.
Ball Security Was the Sticking Point
Speed was never the question with Tuten. Trust was. He fumbled twice during the regular season and lost one of them, and that kind of thing tends to keep coaches cautious with a young back’s workload — especially in Coen’s offense, which leans on the run.
Coen framed it as a rookie growing into the job.
“Now it’s more so, he was so conscientious about ball security last year and doing right,” Coen said. “OK now, Tuten, you got it. You understand it more. Now just go be you, like go do what got you here. Go be special, that’s who you are. And we’re definitely expecting Tuten to have a big year for us.”
That’s about as direct a vote of confidence as a coach gives a player heading into camp. Coen isn’t just saying Tuten earned more opportunity — he’s saying the mental hurdle that limited him as a rookie appears to be behind him.
Rookie Season, By the Numbers
| Category | 2025 Totals |
|---|---|
| Rushing Attempts | 83 |
| Rushing Yards | 307 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 5 |
| Receptions | 10 |
| Receiving Yards | 79 |
| Receiving Touchdowns | 2 |
What This Means for Camp
Rodriguez’s presence suggests Jacksonville isn’t planning to hand the backfield to one player the way it did with Etienne. Coen has run committee-style backfields before, and pairing a bruiser like Rodriguez with a home-run threat like Tuten fits that mold. Still, of the three backs on the roster, Tuten is the one whose ceiling looks the highest right now, and Coen’s comments only add to that expectation.
Nothing is settled yet. Rodriguez still needs to prove his foot is fully right, and Tuten still has to show his rookie flashes can hold up over a starter’s workload. Training camp is where that gets sorted out, snap by snap, carry by carry, under Florida’s summer heat at the Miller Electric Center.
If Tuten backs up what Coen is already saying about him, his touches — and his role in Jacksonville’s offense — could climb well past what he saw as a rookie.