WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Notes, Quotes

The Sports Xchange

December 27, 2018 at 1:43 am.

–With a $12 million base salary and a cap number of $15 million next year, veteran defensive end Calais Campbell would seem to be a candidate to be a salary-cap casualty in 2019, especially since his dead money charge if he were cut would be only $3 million according to Spotrac.

But Campbell is playing so well late in the season and is such a team leader that the Jaguars probably can’t afford to cut him. He had three tackles, a forced fumble, a recovered fumble and a sack in the Jaguars victory over Miami last Sunday and head coach Doug Marrone said he is probably the most dominant run defender in the league besides being a good pass rusher.

“He always shows up every single week, every single game,” Marrone said.

On top of that, Marrone said, “He has great impact in the locker room, great impact with younger players, great impact with the coaches.”

–Owner Shad Khan has yet to make any comments about whether he plans to make any major changes after this disappointing season, but Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported last week that head coach Doug Marrone is expected to stay.

If that is true, then Tom Coughlin, the head of football operations, would probably survive.

Whether general manager Dave Caldwell would survive in such a scenario remains to be seen along with the future of defensive coordinator Todd Wash.

Marrone has already fired offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and he was replaced by quarterbacks coach Scott Milanovich, but the team is likely to look for a new offensive coordinator next year.

–The victory over Miami dropped the Jaguars from fifth to ninth in the draft order going into the last Sunday of the season. The Jaguars could go as high as fourth with a loss to the Texans and as low as 13th with an upset victory depending on the results of the other games.

–Head coach Doug Marrone denied a report by the TV broadcast team that he told them Leonard Fournette was out of shape. “I never said that. I don’t know why they would have said that,” he said. He noted there was a report that Fournette wished he was in better shape and if they probably asked that question, Marrone said he probably answered it the same way and said he is sure everyone wishes they were in better shape.

BY THE NUMBERS: 2 – The number of pick-sixes the Jaguars have had this year after Telvin Smith had one against Miami to clinch the game.

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