Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we’re doing something we’ve never done before — giving a Secret Superstars award to a coach. That’s just how much of a difference new Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile has made for a defense that was an abject disaster in 2024, and is now one of the NFL’s best.
The 2025
Jacksonville Jaguars’ defense has improved drastically in all respects.
And if you say you saw that coming, you’re fibbing.
The 2024 Jaguars, under defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen, finished 31st in Defensive DVOA, opponent passer rating allowed, and EPA per play allowed behind only the Carolina Panthers on all counts. They were 26th in points allowed, 25th in yards allowed, dead last in EPA allowed per passing attempt, 29th in EPA allowed per rushing attempt, and 29th in quarterback pressure rate. No matter the metric, the 2024 Jaguars defense stunk on ice, and the tape backed it up.
The 2025 Jaguars, under defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile, currently rank 16th in Defensive DVOA, first in opponent passer rating allowed, and tied for third in EPA per play allowed with the Detroit Lions and the Denver Broncos. They are 10th in points allowed, 15th in yards allowed, third in EPA allowed per passing attempt, 19th in EPA allowed per rushing attempt, and 23rd in quarterback pressure rate. No matter the metric, the 2025 Jaguars defense has proven that it’s an entirely different beast.
And Campanile, the man in charge of this turnaround, has never been a solo defensive coordinator at any level of football before. The closest Campanile came to that was when he served as Boston College’s co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach in 2018. Since then, he’s been Michigan’s linebackers coach (2019), the Miami Dolphins’ linebackers coach (2020-2023), and the Green Bay Packers’ linebackers coach (2024) before elevating to his current position.
Who is this 43-year-old native of Fair Lawn, New Jersey (you can tell from this EXTREMELY NSFW video from his time with the Dolphins, which is pure Silvio Dante) who has had such an effect on an NFL defense out of nowhere? Motivational speeches with multiple F-bombs are nice and all, but that stuff tends to vaporize pretty quickly if there’s not some weight behind it.
Well, Campanile isn’t tied to a particular coverage concept, which tends to be the way for most of the better defensive shot-callers in today’s NFL. The 2024 Jaguars under Nielsen played man coverage at the NFL’s second-highest rate (41.3%), and the results proved that they didn’t have the personnel to do that — 136 completions allowed on 230 attempts for 1,868 yards, 11 touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 97.5 when playing Cover-0, Cover-1, or 2-Man.
The new guy is far more flexible — though the trend is far more to zone coverage — and it’s paying off. The 2025 Jaguars have lined up in Cover-o 1.8% of the time, Cover-1 14.3% of the time, Cover-2 10.1% of the time, 2-Man 1.4% of the time, Cover-3 31.8% of the time, Cover-4 13.4% of the time, and Cover-6 a league-high 23.0% of the time. If you’re going to play this much zone coverage, you had better be able to coach your players up to be in the right places at the right times, and Campanile doesn’t seem to have any problem doing that.
September AFC Defensive Player of the Month Devin Lloyd’s 99-yard pick-six against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night in Jacksonville’s 31-28 win was just one example. This was Cover-0 only because the Jaguars were dealing with the Chiefs at their three-yard line, and Patrick Mahomes was trying to orchestrate some red zone magic.
Lloyd had other ideas.
“Yeah, honestly they got me with the coverage they played,” Mahomes said. “They played zero kind of inside that 10-yard area in previous games, and they hadn’t shown the poppers with the linebackers popping out when they’re protected. I checked to the play with the in-routes, having three ins knowing that they were going to try to pass off the guys and [receiver] JuJu [Smith-Schuster] was going to pop wide open and he did but credit to… they schemed themselves, and they kind of looked over what they could do better, and they popped right underneath where I was throwing the ball. Great call by them defensively, and obviously a great play by 0 getting the pick, and then I got to find a way to tackle him or slow him down after he gets the interception.”
If you can fool Patrick Mahomes, you’re onto something.
“As far as the pick, it was just a great call,” Lloyd said. “It was a zero look, and I was able to pop out. We know the ball is coming out quick, so it’s really about me getting my eyes back and getting in the right vicinity. So, the ball was right there, thankfully, and picked up a couple blocks. Those were big. I don’t know if I would have made it if I didn’t get those. Grateful for everybody who helped me get into the end zone.”
Lloyd, who has been a major part of the Jaguars’ league-leading +8 turnover differential, is perhaps the most obvious beneficiary of Campanile’s football acumen. Last season in coverage, he allowed 40 catches on 53 targets for 464 yards, 332 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, one interception, and an opponent passer rating of 125.0. This season, Lloyd has allowed 16 catches on 17 targets for 144 yards, 97 yards after the catch, one touchdown (which he canceled out with his record-setting return), four interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 82.0.
Jacksonville’s defense is full of such reclamation stories under Campanile, and it’s time for the nation to start paying attention.
“Coach Camp, he’s a guy that sees the game the right way,” Lloyd concluded. “He loves his players, which is one of the most important things, so he cares about us as people, and whenever you’ve got a guy like that as a player, you’re going to play for him as hard as you can, and like I said, he sees the game the right way. Being a former linebacker, he also understands what it takes, how to put your guys in position to have success, and he’s absolutely done that for me and for Foye [LB Foye Oluokun], and really, everybody on the defense.”
The metrics don’t lie, and neither does the tape. Nobody really saw Anthony Campanile coming, but the rest of the NFL had better start paying attention — starting with the Seattle Seahawks, who visit EverBank Stadium this Sunday.
