After nine seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, it seems that defensive linemen Calais Campbell will be leaving to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Arizona Cardinals were going to be face with a series of tough decisions this offseason. While tagging outside linebacker Chandler Jones made sense, it seems that Arizona will likely lose defensive lineman Calais Campbell among others in NFL free agency.
According to ESPN’s Dianna Russini, “Calais Campbell is expected to sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars.” Jacksonville has a ton of cap space and is already making moves to make its defense even better.
Calais Campbell is expected to sign with the Jaguars per sources
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) March 9, 2017
Campbell had spent all nine of his NFL seasons up to this point with Arizona. The Cardinals drafted him in the second round out of Miami in the 2008 NFL Draft. He was a two-time Pro Bowler for Arizona (2014-15) and played on their NFC Championship team his rookie season.
Leaving the Valley of the Sun for North Florida probably indicates that Campbell will be getting a big, multi-year contract with the Jaguars. Jacksonville has been arguably the worst team in the AFC since Campbell came into the league in 2008.
However, there is reason to be optimistic about the Jaguars going forward. They had a solid defense at times in the final year of the Gus Bradley era. Jacksonville went 3-13 mostly due to offensive ineptitude up front and at the quarterback position.
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Clearly Jacksonville general manager David Caldwell wants to win in the trenches this season. This is probably in line with new head coach Doug Marrone’s thinking, as he specializes in coaching offensive lines. Having a versatile disruptor up front like Campbell should be an interesting wrinkle in the Jaguars defense these next few years. Arizona will struggle to replace him.