The Jaguars will play the first game of the season without defensive end Dante Fowler after he was suspended for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, which is a development that Calais Campbell says is “always one of those things that’s tough.”
Campbell said that the Jaguars are better when Fowler is on the field, but said he believes the team has enough depth to be OK against the Giants. Campbell also noted that it might not be the last time they have to reach down the depth chart in the year to come.
“We were healthy the whole year [in 2017],” Campbell said, via Jacksonville.com. “I pray it’s that way again this year, but in the game of football things come up for whatever it may be for a week or two, you want to have a lot of depth on the team. Even when people stay healthy, you want to have good depth because you rotate so you can stay fresh the whole year. We have goals to make it into the postseason, win the division and that’s a long season. Rotating becomes a prime piece to be successful.”
The Jaguars brought back their top seven defensive linemen from last year and added Taven Bryan in the first round of this year’s draft, so they would seem to be in good shape on the depth front as long as they don’t run into too much trouble in the months to come.