Jaguar Report

The Future of the Jaguars Pass Rush: Josh Allen, K'Lavon Chaisson and the Legacy of Calais Campbell

Just a little over a week into 2020 training camp, defensive end Josh Allen has emerged as a defensive leader, particularly in reference to rookie K'Lavon Chaisson. He attributes the ability to do so largely to lessons he was taught by Calais Campbell.
Kassidy Hill|
The Future of the Jaguars Pass Rush: Josh Allen, K'Lavon Chaisson and the Legacy of Calais Campbell
The Future of the Jaguars Pass Rush: Josh Allen, K'Lavon Chaisson and the Legacy of Calais Campbell

Each day, as Jacksonville Jaguars players trot off the field, sweat dripping and attention focused on the locker rooms, the popping begins. It’s a distinctive sound, a crack against a tackling dummy that reverberates across the practice fields on the banks of the St. Johns River.

K’Lavon Chaisson, the Jags rookie outside linebacker and 2020 first round pick out of LSU, is whipping around the dummy at a lightening pace. He jabs an uppercut on the padded arms of the equipment and then circles back to do it again. Between each one, Josh Allen will stop him and offer a piece of advice; sometimes mimic a different angle to try and then he’ll step back and observe as Chaisson does it again.

Allen is a former first round pick himself, and in some ways still seems like a rookie, having only joined the Jaguars in 2019 out of Kentucky. But he’s clearly the elder statesmen here. He watches over Chaisson with an intensity. This time is important to him and he will treat it as such.

It’s why he’s often rushing to his post-practice media availability. That time after practice with Chaisson takes first priority and its hard to adequately explain why without sounding like a Friday Night Lights cliche.

Still, Allen tries his best.

During his past two press conferences, Allen has used just over 1,000 words—1,105 to be exact—attempting an oratory explanation of the undefined role he’s taking with the Jaguars; as K’Lavon Chaisson’s self-appointed mentor and as Calais Campbell’s successor.

Before Campbell was unexpectedly traded to the Baltimore Ravens, he left Allen with three lessons. When Todd Wash called on Allen recently to step up and join Abry Jones to fill the leadership void left by Campbell, it was time for Allen to put them into practice, in both words—around 1,100 of them—and actions.

Before You’re a Leader, You’re a Player

This is the foundation of everything else Campbell taught Allen. Without it, any sort of impact Allen tries to have will be a house of cards.

“One thing Calais always told me was ‘you work on yourself, the people will follow,’” explained Allen on Aug. 5. 

“Before you get to be a leader, you have to make plays. If you’re not making plays and you try to have a voice, nobody is going to listen to you.”

When Allen arrived as a rookie in Duval, he was the college football Chuck Bednarik Award winner, the Lott Trophy winner and the Nagurski Trophy winner, all given by various organizations but regarded as the three most prestigious all-around awards for a defensive player to win in college. He was also named a unanimous First Team All-SEC and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

In other words, he had made plenty of plays. But that was college. If he was going to do as Campbell was instructing, he needed to first prove he could translate his game to the NFL. With 44 tackles and 10.5 sacks in his first year, he became the only rookie in Jaguars' history to make the Pro Bowl.

Calais Campbell had a front-row seat to all of this, guiding Allen through his first year to a point, and letting him take over himself the rest of the way.

“Josh is a hard worker. He was willing to try to develop, and each and every day he wanted to get better,” Campbell told Jaguar Report this week.

“He’s one to put the work in, and God gave him a lot of ability, a lot of talent. So, if he’s willing to put the work in, he’s going to be successful. I was happy to see his development, and he’s just scratching the surface. He’s going to be a whole lot better each and every year as he continues to develop.

“Usually, you want your leaders to be your best players, and he is definitely going to be one of the best players on any team he’s on.”

It’s hardly opining to say Josh Allen is one of, if not the best defensive player the Jaguars boast going into the 2020 NFL season. It’s a byproduct of a year of hard work with a desire to do even more. 

And in much the same way caretakers are told to take care of themselves so they can in turn best help others, Allen is keeping that Campbell quote in mind—‘you work on yourself, the people will follow’—as he’s setting an example that rookies like K’Lavon Chaisson and others can see and trust.

“You can’t just self-claim yourself as a leader without people really knowing how hard you work and how much you push your players. So right now I’m just really focused on getting myself together and getting myself right and being the best me I can be. And then my teammates hopefully can see that and see I’m working hard and see that I am trying to be the best that I can be. And that becomes a leader," Allen said on Aug. 5. 

“Hopefully it will pay off and hopefully my teammates can see the improvement I had from year one to year two because I am just trying to win. That’s my mentality this year. Individual success comes with team success…my teammates put trust in me and I put trust in them. If they ever need to count on me, they can count on me, I’ll be there for them, on and off the field.”

Work on yourself, the people will follow…and once they’re following, don’t be afraid to push them.

Bring Along The Younger Guys

Allen’s daily sessions with Chaisson after practice is the most visible example to the public of this new role coaches are asking their second-year pass rusher to embody. But looking at the details just on paper—an elder defensive end pointedly and purposely taking time with a rookie to help him improve even knowing this is someone that could take his job—the situation could just as easily be 2019. Because Campbell says it’s exactly how he approached he and Allen’s relationship last season.

“To be a good team, you have to have the younger guys come along faster. I think he understands that. That was kind of my mentality with him last year, that the better he played, the better we would do as a team," Campbell said. "So, I know he understands the same thing. So, I’m happy to see him doing it, but I’m not surprised at all.”

Mirroring that mindset, Allen pulls Chaisson aside each day and works on making the rookie better than even Allen is himself.

“Right now, I’m just staying after practice with K’Lavon and we’ve just been getting a lot of extra pass rush in so we can be great,” Allen said on Aug. 17. 

“He’s a guy that we look upon to play a big role this year. What I did last year is what I did last year and that’s something that could strive him to be better than me. I’m going to do as much as I can to help him get to that point.”

Chaisson finished his three years at LSU (his 2018 season was one game) with 92 tackles, 19 for loss, 9.5 sacks, two passes defended and one forced fumble. Just like Campbell saw Allen’s foundation as only the footnote to a longer career, so does Allen with his own protégé

"His head and his mind are in the right place to be a dominant football player in this league. I still got a lot to grow on and being with a guy like that we can grow together, and we can probably be the best two defensive players in the country at one point," Allen said on Aug. 5. 

"That’s my mindset and that’s his mindset.”

Be Yourself and Let Others Do the Same

The majority of pictures from Josh Allen’s rookie season have a common denominator … he’s standing with Calais Campbell, soaking up knowledge and advice. But a picture is worth all 1,000 of Allen’s words and they show another important facet to Campbell’s lessons for Allen; be yourself and let others do the same.

Campbell is often seen in these photos with a laugh or smile or completely befuddled look on his face as he looks on as Allen seemingly bubbles over with energy and eagerness.

Recalls Campbell, “One of the best things about [Josh] that is under-appreciated though, is his ability to make playing football so much fun. Some people approach it as just a job, and he has a professionalism to him of the job mentality, but he also comes into work every day with a smile.

“He brings a good, positive energy—something that’s going to allow him to make the team better by just bringing that positive energy every day. It can be a grind, so it’s very much needed," Campbell continued. "That’s another leadership quality, but it’s definitely something that I think most people don’t realize how important that is coming to work and bringing that positive energy. It’s contagious and it makes the whole team better.”

It didn’t take long for Chaisson to be in the building and began to hear about this part of Allen’s impact on the team. And it was clear early on, if Chaisson wanted to assimilate to his new club and put together a stellar rookie season, he would need to stick himself to Josh Allen for the duration.

“I kind of look at him as the role model, someone to follow, after all of the success he had. I can say that people have bragged about his character and the way he’s displayed around the facilities as someone that I want to be looked at like that as well," Chaisson said on Aug. 31. 

While having Chaisson follow Allen, he doesn’t need to solely mimic him. That’s something else Campbell taught; find and grow what’s already within.

“You can’t really teach a person to be who they are. All you can do is help develop them," Campbell said. "So, I saw Josh and his potential as a leader, his potential as a guy who could change games…it’s good that he was born with natural leadership qualities. What I try to do is help him develop his confidence in being a leader, the abilities that God gave him.”

Allen could probably wax poetic for hours about all Campbell taught him in one short year. Campbell could ponder much more on what he saw and helped cultivate in Allen during that time as well. And as Chaisson continues to find his voice with the Jaguars, he’ll have those same examples by which to follow.

And if Allen and Chaisson are able to reach their goal of being the best defensive tandem in the league, there will be ample discussion on what it took to achieve the feat. But it doesn’t really need any additional words.

The pop of the bag echoing across the practice field says it all. 

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Kassidy Hill
KASSIDY HILL

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