Jacksonville Jaguars: Can Calais Campbell be better in 2018?
By Larry Brake
Calais Campbell had a sensational season for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2017, but will he be have better statistics this season?
The Jacksonville Jaguars struck gold by signing Calais Campbell in March 2017. Campbell recorded a career high with 14.5 sacks. He was playing in his tenth NFL season which makes it more sensational.
After spending nine seasons in Arizona, Campbell signed to play in Jacksonville. He signed a four year deal worth $60 million. Campbell is highest paid Jaguars player and accounts for 8.37 percent of the team’s salary cap. He is a very good investment. Campbell led the Jaguars in sacks and had 47 tackles. He was a physical presence on the Jacksonville defense. Yet, he was 31 years old last September.
Since Campbell will be a year older, can he put up better numbers? Jacksonville’s schedule will be tougher than last year’s. However, eight opponents have good pass protection by their offensive line according to Football Outsiders.
Constant pressure, on the quarterback, is as good as a sack. Pro Football Focus (PFF) compared the results of clean pockets versus pressured ones:
"The average NFL passer rating fell from 99.3 to just 64.6 last season when pressured..there were 219 interceptions … on 12,100 pass attempts from a clean pocket, a rate of 1.8 percent. When pressure was applied that rate shot up to 3.1 percent as they combined to throw 153 interceptions on 4,942 attempts."
PFF Edge graded Campbell as the fourth best edge rusher with a 93.5. He is considered an elite pass rusher by PFF. Can Campbell match his numbers from last year? Throughout his career, a good sack total is followed with a decline. His first five season sack totals are: 0, 7.0, 6.0, 8.0 and 6.5. Since 2013, Campbell has 9.0, 7.0, 5.0, 8.0 and 14.5 total sacks per season.
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Expect Campbell to play at a high level but might have less sacks. He may see a reduction in total snap counts due to his age and hopefully the emergence of Taven Bryan. Campbell might move inside to generate an interior pass rush.
The Jaguars have the secondary that creates opportunities for sacks. Jacksonville had 55 sacks last year. Getting to 60 sacks in 2018 is not an unreasonable expectation.