The Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the hottest teams in the NFL heading into the playoffs. They've won 12 games for the first time since 2005 and have a legitimate NFL Coach of the Year candidate in Liam Coen. Moreover, Trevor Lawrence is once again playing like a top-5 quarterback, and the defense is among the stingiest in the league.
The downside of the team's success is that Coen could lose his top lieutenants in the upcoming coaching cycle. Anthony Campanile, in particular, already appears to be garnering plenty of interest, according to a recent article.
Jaguars DC Anthony Campanile will be part of the NFL coaching carousel
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN put together his notes about the things he's hearing across the NFL. One item that stood out was that Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile will draw consideration in the next coaching cycle.
ESPN colleague Dan Graziano goes on to say that Campanile could get interviews, adding that his stock has soared because of his role in the Jacksonville turnaround. Here's the skinny.
"Anthony Campanile is worth watching; the Jags' defensive coordinator could get interviews this cycle and a head coaching job down the road," Graziano wrote. "People around the league are taking notes of what has happened in Jacksonville and how quickly Coen and his relatively inexperienced staff have turned things around. The Jaguars have the league's best run defense in yards allowed per game, and trail only the Bears with 30 takeaways."
During his brief stint with the Jaguars, Campanile has gotten the most out of players such as cornerback Montaric Brown, linebacker Devin Lloyd, defensive tackle Arik Armstead, and safety Antonio Johnson. All of them either struggled or weren't able to hit their stride under Ryan Nielen, their coordinator in 2024.
In the 2025 hiring cycle, Campanile also interviewed for the same job with the New York Giants before landing in Jacksonville. Prior to joining the Jags, he was the linebackers coach for the Green Bay Packers and their run game coordinator.
It's worth noting that Campanile's offensive counterpart, Grant Udisnki, will also be on demand with teams who are in need of a new head coach. That said, he doesn't appear to be getting nearly as much interest.
Related: Rich Eisen explains why the Jags won't reach their true ceiling until 2026
The Jaguars will miss Anthony Campanile if he leaves
It's not a given that Anthony Campanile will leave the Jaguars to become a head coach for another team. However, his name has routinely been brought up when discussing potential candidates. The fact that he turned the Jacksonville defense from one of the worst in the league to one of the best, with virtually the same personnel, should be more than enough to get him a few candidates.
The fact that Campanile cares about his players at personal level and is always looking to build a bond with them will most definitely help him during the interview process. At this point, Liam Coen is surely bracing himself for the possibility of losing Campanile, and precisely because of the way he is, he'll be thrilled to see his coordinator get a possibility to lead his own team.
The silver lining is that Liam Coen already showed once that he knows how to identify talent, so as much as the Jaguars will miss Anthony Campanile if another team poaches him, they should have no trouble finding an adequate replacement to call the shots on defense.