Why Anthony Campanile is Excited about Jaguars' Key Position Group

But they're hoping to be vastly better on defense as well. The Jaguars enlisted first-time defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile to overhaul their D. He has a tall task to take a unit that finished 31st in yards and 27th in points allowed last year and try to turn them into a playoff-level squad.

Jacksonville has the pieces in place to do it, though. They already had a few promising players, including veteran defensive tackle Arik Armstead and 2024 rookie DT Maason Smith. They needed a little extra juice, though, leading General Manager James Gladstone and the Jaguars to trade for players like Khalen Saunders.

Jaguars' D-Line will be ready to go vs. Panthers

The Jacksonville Jaguars suddenly have one of the deeper defensive lines in the NFL. They already had two strong edge rushers in Josh Allen-Hines and Travon Walker and a few solid defensive tackles in Arik Armstead, Davon Hamilton, and Maason Smith. They added to that core this offseason, bringing in newcomers Austin Johnson, B.J. Green II, Danny Striggow, and veteran Khalen Saunders with a preseason trade.

Maason Smith and Arik Armstead missed time in training camp with injury, leading to worry that they may not be ready for the Jaguars' season opener against the Carolina Panthers, but they're good to go according to Defensive Coordinator Anthony Campanile:

"Yeah, even in the joint practice down in Miami, I felt like they were chomping at the bit, and they’ve just been really excited and you guys probably got to see them in individual and stuff and they’re going. They’re practicing their asses off, so it’s been fun to watch them, and they’ve been really locked in the meetings, and I’m excited to get them going, too."

Depth will be key for Jaguars

If Armstead or Smith had to miss time or need some extra rest against Carolina due to a lapse in conditioning, Campanile knows that Khalen Saunders will be ready, even though he came into Jacksonville's system late:

"He’s done a ton extra with some of our defensive line coaches. They’ve really done a good job getting him acclimated and teaching him the system. He has some great fundamentals and a really good background in a lot of the stuff that we do, so that’s obviously what was attractive about him coming here. I’m excited about him, and he’s proven all that to be true, he’s shown up and practiced really well every day. You see that stuff showing up.”

The Jaguars might not have any household names starring on their defensive line yet, but they have a deep rotation of players who can get after the ball. Depth has proven to be instrumental to winning in the trenches in the modern NFL. It looks like Jacksonville is prepared to do just that.