Campbell has Jags defense atop NFL
Ex-Hurricanes star returns to Arizona to play former team.
JACKSONVILLE — Calais Campbell has two things he wants to bring back from Arizona: An eighth victory and Larry Fitzgerald’s No. 11 jersey.
One is much more important to him than the other.
Campbell will return to the place where he spent the previous nine seasons when the Jacksonville Jaguars (7-3) play the Cardinals (4-6) on Sunday. While he’s looking forward to seeing close friends, former teammates and ex-coaches, the veteran defensive end hopes to keep his homecoming as low-key — and successful — as possible.
“I get it’s a story line, but for me, you have to make it just another game and make it about just getting a ‘W,’ ” Campbell said Tuesday. “I have friends there. I spent a lot of time there. There’s a lot of history. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to live in the moment.
“Right now, we’re a really good team trying to take that next step and set ourselves up to win our division. We have a one-game lead, but that can evaporate just like that. I’m not really worried about anything else than just staying focused and making sure this team is on par reaching our full potential and going where we can go.”
No one should be surprised that Campbell wants to shift the spotlight.
After all, the 6-foot-8, 300-pounder and former Miami Hurricanes standout is one of the reasons the Jaguars are atop the AFC South after 10 games for the first time since 2010.
“He put a lot of blood, sweat and tears in that city, so I understand it’s going to be emotional for him,” safety Tashaun Gipson said.
“And we want to do this for him for sure.”
Campbell has an NFL-leading and career-high 11½ sacks, setting the tone for the league’s No. 1 defense, and has been a positive influence on fellow defensive ends Yannick Ngakoue (nine sacks) and Dante Fowler Jr. (6½ sacks).
His deep, raspy, voice provides a calming influence in the locker room and a distinctive sound in the huddle.
“He’s had an enormous impact,” linebacker Paul Posluszny said. “He’s been able to change the culture of what things were to how it is right now.
“He’s had an absolutely enormous impact on that.”
Campbell had a similar effect in Arizona. He had 373 tackles, 56½ sacks, 42 pass breakups, 11 forced fumbles and three interceptions with the Cardinals, who chose to sign pass-rusher Chandler Jones to a long-term deal instead of trying to keep Campbell.
The Jaguars gave Campbell a four-year contract worth $60 million in March. The deal included $30 million guaranteed.
Campbell saw Jacksonville’s potential to be a dominant defense and even referenced winning the Super Bowl long before he played a game for the floundering franchise.
Eight months later, his prediction looks more possible than laughable.
He made the Super Bowl as a rookie to cap the 2008 season — a 27-23 loss to Pittsburgh — and said Tuesday he thinks about coming up short “all the time.”
There’s one opportunity he doesn’t want to miss Sunday, and that’s getting Fitzgerald’s jersey.
“I hope he will let me trade him jerseys,” Campbell said. “I’ve always wanted a jersey from him, so I never asked him for one before, so this would be kind of cool.”