Tyson Campbell had a feeling something good was coming his way.
“I was telling people all the time I just knew God was going to blow my mind,” Campbell told reporters after the Jaguars’ first training camp practice on Wednesday. “He did.”
In the form of up to $76.5 million with $53.4 million guaranteed, presented to Campbell in a four-year contract extension with Jacksonville, the team that drafted him with the first pick of the second round in 2021.
“I was speechless,” Campbell said about the deal.
But after signing the dotted line upon reporting to camp Tuesday, Campbell quickly re-entered his comfort zone: on the gridiron.
Campbell has shined in Jacksonville’s first two practices, playing a big part in the Jaguars’ impressive pass defense showings.
He forced multiple incompletions against projected starting wide receivers Gabe Davis and Brian Thomas Jr. in Day 1 red zone drills, breaking up the pass to Davis and jamming Thomas’ route enough to turn an accurate throw from quarterback Trevor Lawrence into an overthrow.
Thomas also dropped a pass from Lawrence in the end zone with Campbell in close coverage.
Campbell didn’t make a play on the ball during the second practice but stymied another red zone route by Thomas and generally kept receivers in front of him as the offense struggled to find its groove.
“I’m doing better since I’m playing football now,” Campbell expressed. “So, back to reality.”
Money aside, Campbell remains highly valuable in this reality. Jacksonville made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid cornerbacks because they believe he can be one of its best.
The Jaguars’ new defensive staff under coordinator Ryan Nielsen, namely defensive backs coach Kris Richard, assistant Cory Robinson and analyst Mike Gray, identified Campbell as a player they want to build their secondary around immediately after their January hirings.
They were willing to overlook Campbell’s most recent campaign, his injury-plagued 2023, believing in what he put on tape the two prior seasons and even dating back to high school: “He’s been a state champion here, you know, as a 100-meter runner,” Richard recalled to Jaguars Wire in June.
Hamstring and quadricep injuries limited Campbell to 11 games last year, when he posted one interception, five defended passes and 60 tackles, all single-season career lows.
Campbell intercepted two passes and defended 10 as a rookie; he picked off three throws, defended 15, and allowed a 54.2% completion percentage in his breakout 2022 season. He ranked No. 32 among qualifying coverage defenders in the latter category, per Pro Football Reference.
“He’s got a great skill set,” Nielsen said Thursday. “When you evaluate him and what we do on defense, our DB coaches, Kris and Cory and Mike … when we talked about what we’re looking for at that position, he possesses a lot of those skill sets and those traits.
“It’s exciting that we’re going to have him for a few more years.”
Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson is similarly excited to pair Campbell with Nielsen and his defensive scheme, which favored press coverage from its cornerbacks in Nielsen’s first season as a play-caller, with Atlanta in 2023.
“I think the scheme is going to help him,” Pederson suggested Wednesday. “The style that the secondary is going to play, I think it suits him.
“Tyson is not a big guy, but he’s a physical guy and I think this is going to help him take another step. Continue to work on his ball skills, and just have that presence about him, that he’s one of the best corners in the league.”
One of the NFL’s most productive current corners, Ronald Darby, who signed with Jacksonville in March, recognizes the aura Pederson described.
While Darby has nine seasons of experience under his belt and ranks No. 7 among active cornerbacks with 97 career defended passes, he credited Campbell for influencing his game already in the four months they have been teammates.
“He deserves every penny … he in here balling,” Darby told Jaguars Wire Thursday.
“You got a young dude over there that’s gonna go out there and compete every day, work hard and help push you. And he loves to learn. Like, he always comes up asking questions. ‘How you do certain things?’ And vice versa. I ask him certain things, what he do and what he did on the play he made.”
A big contract after a down season intensifies the spotlight Campbell was already under entering the 2024 campaign.
He understands the expectations his extension created and he wants to surpass them: Not to play like one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks, but to be its best.
“It’s a blessing. But at the same time, I’m doing all this to give the glory back to God and be the best at my position,” Campbell said.
“So, the work doesn’t stop. I’m still hungry, still eager and still trying to be a leader for the young guys to be able to be in a position like this.”