Bucs assistant GM shows Liam Coen what loyalty looks like

The feud between Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars continues to intensify. The Jaguars are still looking for a new general manager after hiring former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen.

By now, many know the hiring of Coen was controversial. Owner Shad Khan inexplicably kept general manager Trent Baalke after firing then-head coach Doug Pederson. Baalke's presence made it difficult to attract top coaching candidates. And when Coen turned down the Jaguars, reportedly because he did not feel comfortable working with Baalke, he could not survive any longer and Khan finally fired him.

The Buccaneers were ready to reward Coen with a new contract, which would have made him the highest-paid offensive coordinator. But the Jaguars came back and offered him the head coaching job now that Baalke was no longer a roadblock. As Coen was working out a deal to become the new Jaguars coach, he did not even respond to the Buccaneers. Thus, the bad blood between the two organizations was born.

A serious rivalry is blossoming between the Jaguars and Buccaneers

With the hiring of Coen, the Jaguars' attention turned to hiring the next general manager position. While it feels awkward the head coach is hired before the general manager, San Francisco hired Kyle Shanahan and then paired him with John Lynch, who was a Fox Sports analyst at the time. Buffalo hired Sean McDermott first, then paired him with Brandon Beane as they worked together in Carolina. No one can argue with the success both teams have enjoyed since their hiring.

According to various reports, the Jaguars have requested to interview Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham, Chargers assistant general manager Chad Alexander, Bengals senior personnel executive Trey Brown, Giants assistant general manager Brandon Brown, and Bucs assistant general manager Mike Greenberg.

It is interesting that the Jaguars even had the nerve to request interviewing Greenberg, who already had interviewed for the New York Jets job earlier. The Buccaneers could not turn down their request because this would be a promotion for him. However, according to Rick Stroud of the for, he turned down their request and will remain with the Buccaneers with an interesting reason.

Greenberg's reason for withdrawal adds more fuel to the Buccaneers-Jaguars feud.

Greenberg would have been a great candidate to be paired with Coen from their time with Tampa Bay. It is interesting the reason for Greenberg's withdrawal was his loyalty to the Buccaneers and yet he added it has nothing to do with either Liam Coen or the Jaguars. The fact that he mentioned
Coen and the Jaguars organization is an indictment of how much the Buccaneers still hold a grudge towards them for the way they hired Coen and also towards Coen himself.

It will be interesting to see if other candidates are desperate enough to take this job because there are only 32 of them or if they will follow Mike Greenberg and withdraw themselves from the job.