After a stellar three-year stint with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell will be shipped to Baltimore for a fifth round pick in this year’s draft.
This move marks the end of an era in Jacksonville. Since joining the team in 2017, Campbell has accumulated 31.5 sacks, reached the Pro Bowl each of his three seasons with the team and earned an All-Pro selection in 2017.
With Campbell on his way to Baltimore and fellow pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue, who’s vocalized his disinterest in signing long-term with Jacksonville, seemingly on his way out as well, the Jaguars seem to be prepping to enter a rebuild. Not to mention they’ve already parted ways with their two starting outside corners from the beginning of 2019 in Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye.
The Jags were in the AFC Championship game just three seasons ago, which makes this transition to a full-on rebuild all the more jarring.
They currently hold nine picks in this year’s draft, including the ninth overall in the first round. So, they could certainly fill some of their needs with young players.
After trading Campbell, the Jags will also have around $29 million in cap space to work with, meaning they could pursue some solid free agents as well.
It’s hard to project what this Jaguars team will look like come training camp, but it certainly won’t look anything like last year’s iteration.
With the legal tampering period set to start at noon on Monday, we’ll start to get a clearer picture of what the Jaguars plan is for this offseason and beyond.
