The new Jacksonville Jaguars defense under Anthony Campanile presents a first for CB Jarrian Jones.
As the Jacksonville Jaguars transition to a new defensive scheme under Anthony Campanile, cornerback Jarrian Jones is navigating the learning curve that comes along with that.
In Campanile’s defense, the Jaguars are going to be playing a lot more zone coverage. With a vision-based approach on the back end, all eyes will be on the quarterback, which hopefully results in more ball production from the secondary.
In a recent article by ESPN’s Michael DiRocco, he notes that Jones hasn’t had much experience operating in zone defenses in his playing career.
“It got worse for Jones when Campanile revealed his defense is heavy on zone coverage, which is something Jones said he never played in high school or college,” DiRocco wrote.
Along with making this schematic change, the Jaguars’ cornerback room is now more crowded as well with the additions of Jourdan Lewis and Travis Hunter. Montaric Brown has also continued to see his share of opportunities with the starting defense this spring.
Campanile mentioned that Jones has put in extra time to help expedite this learning curve, and he is someone that the new Jaguars’ defensive coordinator is “really fired up about.” However, at least as of now, where Jones’ potential playing time may come from this season remains to be seen.
“I think he’s done a great job the whole camp,” Campanile said of Jones during offseason programs. “He’s really, really diligent in the meetings. Super detailed in all the drill work and I think it’s showing up here in practice in the 7-on-7 and here in the team situations. I’ve been really fired up about him because he’s a bright guy and he’s a competitor.”