Ex-Jaguars' Defender Calais Campbell Inactive For Week 15 Clash

Calais Campbell won't playin his return game against the Jacksonville Jaguars due to a calf injury.

The Jacksonville Jaguars won't be playing the former 'Mayor of Sacksonville' after all on Sunday, with Calais Campbell being ruled inactive for Sunday's game between the Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens with a calf injury. 

Sunday was set to be the first time the Jaguars would have played Campbell, their former All-Pro and Pro Bowl defensive lineman and captain, since they traded him to Baltimore in March. 

Jacksonville made the somewhat surprising move of trading Campbell to the Ravens for a 2020 fifth-round draft pick in a cap-influenced move. The trade helped clear up space in the Jaguars' salary cap, but it also saw them lose a productive pass-rusher in Campbell.

"Calais is like the OG. He’s always just taught me things, put me on game, showed me the right things to do, the wrong things to do," Jaguars linebacker Myles Jack said on Thursday. 

"Calais, that guy, he was the ‘Mayor of Jacksonville’. I can’t imagine him talking crazy. Calais might say something here or there, but I know he really wanted to be here. I know that much. I know he wanted to finish his career in Jacksonville and he definitely wanted to be in Jacksonville."

In addition to Campbell, the Jaguars also traded defensive end Yannick Ngakoue to the Minnesota Vikings for a 2021 second-round pick and a conditional fifth-round 2022 pick. Ngakoue was eventually traded to Baltimore, reuniting him with Campbell. 

Without the pair, the Jaguars have averaged 1.23 sacks a game in 2020. With them, the Jaguars recorded 2.9 sacks a game (2019), 2.3 sacks a game (2018), and 3.3 (2017)

"Everyone knows what I’ve said in the past about those two players. I have a ton of respect for them, I really do. I hope that they’re doing well personally and everything and I hope they’re happy," Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone said on Wednesday. 

"I think anyone that coaches and coaches their players, whether they stay, whether they leave, whatever goes on, at the end of the day, you just hope that they’re happy. There’s always the competitiveness where you do always want to play well against your team and your team wants to play well against you, but I have a ton of respect for those guys. You can’t get two better guys in a building than those two.”