Jaguars Defender Who Will Benefit Most From Anthony Campanile

Anthony Campanile’s early resume reads like a list of stops along a New Jersey map. Fair Lawn, Don Bosco, Rutgers. Now, he wants that street-fight toughness reflected in his Jacksonville defense.

“I think the most important thing you talk about when you talk about defense is your play style,” Campanile told reporters last month. “My vision for us defensively, we want to be a tough, fast, physical, violent-at-the-point-of-attack team. What does that mean? That means that you’ve got guys who take pride in not getting blocked.”

The Jaguars’ new defensive coordinator has a brain forged from the callsheets of Vic Fangio and Brian Flores. Campanile worked for both defensive play-callers in Miami from 2020-23, then spent last year with another branch from the Fangio tree, Green Bay defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.

Campanile said that anyone can game plan six days in advance. The best in the game, like Fangio and Flores, became the best by making in-game adjustments.

“In the game, information is so valuable,” Campanile said. “And from drive to drive, we all have to be in great communication with each other to get into the next best call or the next call, next series that's going to help us get off the field. So, yeah, some of those guys I've learned a bunch from. I would say Vic is the same way, just super adaptable and super intelligent. Great guys to be around.”

Two of the NFL’s best defensive lines to be around reside in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. And the Jaguars now have direct connections to both, through Campanile and new general manager James Gladstone, who helped construct the Rams’ roster. And that’s why so many believe Michigan’s Mason Graham will begin his NFL career in teal and black.

Fangio cemented his legacy last month in Super Bowl LIX by generating six sacks of Patrick Mahomes – a single-game career high for the Chiefs’ quarterback – without calling a blitz.

Pressure came from every player, even from the interior, where Kansas City had been impenetrable. Campanile’s early film study revealed signs in Jacksonville’s personnel that the Jaguars could one day play a similar game.

“We got some pass rushers,” Campanile said. “We have some interior D-linemen. We have some toughness at linebacker. We got some guys on the back end that I've been really impressed with.”

One of those guys on the back end is cornerback Tyson Campbell, someone who figures to thrive in Campanile’s system. According to analyst Daniel Griffis, Campbell is much more suited for zone than man coverage. And if Campanile’s prior stops under Fangio and Hafley are any indication, the Jaguars will play a lot of zone.

Last year, Green Bay ranked second in the NFL by playing zone on 78 percent of snaps. Jacksonville ranked 30th. Neither Hafley nor Fangio has shown a tendency to call a lot of blitzes.

How the Jaguars build their defensive line to complement Josh Hines-Allen and Travon Walker, and create opportunities for DBs like Campbell, is certainly something to watch this offseason.

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