The Jacksonville Jaguars need to bolster their pass rush. While they can do so in the 2025 NFL Draft, they could also turn to free agency to round out their rotation. They could still do it, but there's one less player off the market after the Arizona Cardinals swooped in and signed him.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media broke the news that the Cards signed Cmpabell to a one-year deal and added on a later tweet that it's worth $5.5 million with a max value of $7.5 million. Arizona announced the move not long after.
It’s a 1-year, $5.5M deal with a max value of $7.5M, source says. https://t.co/YDlRfyiRkJ
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 1, 2025
Campbell is entering his 18th NFL season, which could turn out to be his last one. It's fitting that he would wrap up his career with the club that made him a second-round pick in 2008. Having spent his first nine seasons in the desert, the former Miami Hurricane signed with the Jags in 2017. He went on to have an immediate impact, registering 14.5 sacks that year.
In Jacksonville, Campbell made four straight Pro Bowls and won the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2019. For all his contributions, he earned the nickname the Mayor. But despite his contributions, he was traded to the Baltimore Ravens just before the 2020 season.
Campbell spent three seasons with the Ravens and showed interest in returning to the Jags in 2023 when he was a free agent. However, a reunion didn't materialize, and he ended up joining the Atlanta Falcons and bolted for the Miami Dolphins last year. All in all, the Mayor has appeared in 261 games with 232 starts and registered 33 interceptions, 18 forced fumbles, and 110.5 sacks.
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Appreciating Calais Campbell time with the Jaguars
The truth is that the odds of the Jacksonville Jaguars bringing back Calais Campbell this offseason were pretty low. After all, general manager James Gladstone said that the team didn't plan to make additions to the defensive line until the draft because signing veterans could take away practice time from the incoming rookie class.
Having said that, there was a chance that the All-Pro could still be available later in the offseason, like he was in 2023. By then, the odds of signing him would've increased. In Jacksonville, he could've been the No. 3 pass rusher behind Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen. However, that's no longer possible after he signed with the Arizona Cardinals.
Just know that if Calais Campbell would've been welcomed with arms wide open. Then again, the prospect of retiring where he began his NFL career was too good to pass up, so nobody should blame him for taking the chance.
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