Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen believes running back Bhayshul Tuten is going to excel in his second NFL season.
"He was so conscientious about ball security last year and doing right," Coen said on ESPN's "The Schrager Hour" podcast. "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."
The Jaguars selected Tuten in the fourth round of the 2025 draft. He went on to play in 15 games as a rookie, posting 83 carries for 307 yards and seven total touchdowns as Travis Etienne's backup.
The 23-year-old's best performance came in Week 11, when he recorded 74 rushing yards and a score on 14 attempts. He also posted 51 yards on four carries in Jacksonville's wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills. On the season, his 3.22 yards after contact per rush ranked 14th among all running backs with at least 80 attempts, according to TruMedia.
With Etienne departing in free agency, Tuten is expected to take on a bigger role in 2026. Following Etienne's exit, Jacksonville signed free agent Chris Rodriguez Jr., who played under Coen at Kentucky in 2021. Running backs LeQuint Allen and Ameer Abdullah are on the roster as well.
Jacksonville's run game struggled down the stretch of last season, ranking 28th in success rate and 30th in yards per rush attempt from Weeks 10-18.
"Tuten I thought had a really good spring," Coen added. "You know, Year 1 coming from Virginia Tech, and really it was North Carolina Central to Virginia Tech, so he had a little bit of a learning curve with the protections and a lot of the things that come with playing running back as a rookie.
"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, 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."
The Jaguars will report to training camp July 28 and face off against the Cleveland Browns in their season opener.
