During his time in Duval, Calais Campbell my have been the most loved Jacksonville Jaguar on the roster in the eyes of fans. That’s exactly why many hated to see him traded, however, the team was in a situation where they needed to reallocate money after two straight losing seasons.
In a recent interview on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Campbell was brought on as a guest and was asked whether he envisioned being traded from Jacksonville. Like most fans, Campbell admitted that he was indeed shocked and that he expected to play out his contract in Duval.
“No, I didn’t know it was coming. Obviously, I guess it’s always a possibility, and being an older person in this league, I’ve seen it all so you’re never surprise,” said Campbell to McAfee. “I was expecting to be in Jacksonville throughout the remainder of my contract and maybe even longer. I thought maybe an extension would come before a trade would come. So I was kind of caught off guard but it happened to be to one of the best teams in football, so it was kind of a win-win situation.”
Those are words that may hurt Jags fans as Campbell was a solid player both on and off the field and probably the best free-agent signing in team history. While the team wasn’t winning, he still garnered the respect of pretty much every fan, and quite frankly, the fanbase has rarely seen a star of his magnitude who was an example on and off the field.
All of this isn’t to say the Jags didn’t want Campbell either, though. There was talk of an extension last season, but nothing came into fruition and Campbell played on his deal for a 2019 cap hit of $14.5 million. It’s unknown if they tried the same in 2020, but he told Action News Jax that restructuring would have to “make sense” financially earlier this offseason, so maybe the conversation occurred a second time.
While it was a move that left the fans heartbroken, moving on from Campbell made sense because taking the $15 million cap hit from him in a season where the Jags may not make the playoffs would’ve been questionable. Instead, they elected to use the money on younger options who could be around for longer and help out their long-term future.
As I’ve said in the past, it’s easier for a front office to pay high salaries when the team is winning. However, general manager Dave Caldwell has proven he can find bargain free-agent deals on the defensive line (like Sen’Derrick Marks), so maybe that played into the Jags’ decision to move on from Campbell.