Jacksonville handed out several contract extensions this offseason, with quarterback Trevor Lawrence and edge rusher Josh Allen‘s mega-deals headlining the Jaguars’ in-house spending and linebacker Foyesade Oluokun and guard Ezra Cleveland‘s new agreements not to be forgotten.
Who might be next? NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport believes Jacksonville cornerback Tyson Campbell is on the shortlist to get paid, either by the Jaguars or another team. 2024 marks the final season of Campbell’s rookie contract.
Asked on “The Insiders” which Jaguars player is well-positioned to leap forward this season, Rapoport pointed to Campbell and utilized the exercise to provide the intel.
“Campbell quickly comes to mind,” Rapoport wrote on X. “A player to build around.”
From The Insiders on @NFLNetwork: Asked for one player who could make the leap for the #Jaguars this season, CB Tyson Campbell quickly comes to mind. A player to build around. pic.twitter.com/oUCzAqf320
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 8, 2024
Rapoport noted Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s June comments regarding the team’s history of spending big in free agency and how Lawrence and Allen’s extensions mark a “sea change” for how the franchise approaches roster building, by drafting and developing talent.
Under that premise, Campbell has proven himself worthy of following that trend, at least in Rapoport’s opinion.
“The Jaguars obviously have spent in free agency but what they’ve wanted to do, and owner Shad Khan came out and said a couple days ago, ‘We can’t be addicted to free agents.’ Well, okay, well they have a couple really good players on their roster who eventually will get some big-time paydays,” Rapoport suggested.
“I’m going to call attention to Tyson Campbell, the young corner who I think very quietly has emerged as one of the better young corners in the NFL. At some point, whether [it is] this year, in free agency, whenever, [he is] gonna end up being one of the higher-paid corners in the NFL. Stats aren’t great, coverage is great. This is the kind of guy that the Jaguars are going to want to pay and want to build around.”
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The stats were there for Campbell in 2022, a breakout season in which he posted three interceptions, 15 defended passes, one forced fumble and a 54.2% completion percentage allowed. The latter stat ranked No. 32 among 270 qualifying coverage defenders in the NFL, per Pro Football Reference.
But multiple soft tissue injuries limited Campbell to 11 appearances last year, several of which he played hurt.
Campbell allowed 69.4% of his targets in coverage to be caught (ranking No. 174 out of 268 qualifying defenders) and recorded one interception, five defended passes and one forced fumble in 2023.
If the Jaguars view Campbell’s most recent campaign as an outlier — for what it’s worth, they made Lawrence one of the highest-paid players in NFL history despite his multiple injuries and 0-5 record over his final five games in 2023 — perhaps Jacksonville will prove Rapoport’s theory correct and make him one of the NFL’s higher-paid cornerbacks.
“After spending the last couple of years in free agency, it’s time to focus on their own guys,” Rapoport said. “They did it with Trevor Lawrence and we will see who ends up being next.”