Jacksonville has at least one bit of certainty in the secondary heading into 2021: free-agent addition Shaquill Griffin. After signing with the Jaguars on a three-year, $40 million deal that pays him like a top-15 corner, he is expected to be a starter this fall.
But who will occupy the cornerback spot on the other side? That’s a question that’s a bit more interesting. Conventional wisdom would say C.J. Henderson, who the Jags took ninth overall in 2020. An injury-limited rookie season was largely unimpressive for Henderson, but the team still hopes he can develop into the top-tier corner it drafted him to be.
However, he won’t reclaim his spot unchallenged after finishing the year on the injured reserve (he’s also recovering from surgery this offseason). With the first pick in the second round in 2021, Jacksonville selected Georgia cornerback Tyson Campbell, who could certainly push Henderson to start.
The Jags have hinted that they may see a future for Campbell at nickel rather than on the outside (and his experience playing safety in high school could help with that transition), but it would be a major change for him. He lined up almost exclusively on the outside at Georgia (where players are crossed-trained under Kirby Smart), and the Jaguars invested a lot in him to try and play him outside of his natural position.
It’s fair to say the selection of Campbell was a bit of an insurance policy on Henderson, though they are far from mutually exclusive players. The team definitely drafted Henderson to replace Jalen Ramsey on the outside, but he probably has more versatility than Campbell and could likely handle a move to the nickel with more ease.
But that’s not where the team expected him to play when it picked him ninth, and most of Henderson’s experience has come on the outside, as well. So, it will certainly be interesting to see who can separate themselves in camp.
Do you think it will be Henderson or Campbell? Or will someone else, such as Tre Herndon or Sidney Jones, surprise everyone and win the job? Let us know in the poll below.
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