Liam Coen’s Bet on Anthony Campanile Is Already Paying Off for Jaguars

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- When Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen hired first-time Anthony Campanile this offseason, there were quite a few skeptics.

Coen, after all, is a rather inexperienced NFL coach and was set to be a rookie head coach. And when many thought he would go with a veteran defensive coordinator, he instead went with Campanile -- a fellow rookie.

Through the first three weeks of the season, though, Campanile's unit has done everything in its power to prove any and all skeptics wrong.

Defense

EPA/Play: No. 2
Success Rate: No. 3
Dropback EPA/Play: No. 2
Dropback Success Rate: No. 7
Rushing EPA/Play: No. 16
Rushing Success Rate: No. 1 pic.twitter.com/CIH75GeD50
— John Shipley (@_John_Shipley) September 23, 2025

"Honestly, it’s our process. Like I said, it all goes back to that," Jaguars cornerback Jourdan Lewis said after Sunday's 17-20 win over the Houston Texans.

"When you have success and you have sustained success, it just goes back to every day that you train and things that you do in practice, and that’s what we’ve been doing. We’ve been practicing getting the ball back and you can see it’s coming to fruition on Sunday.”

Campanile's Success

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile hugs safety Andrew Wingard (42) before an NFL football matchup at EverBank Stadium, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jaguars defeated the Texans 17-10. The Jaguars defeated the Texans 17-10. | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The most obvious improvement the Jaguars' defense has made under Campanile has been their ability to generate takeaways. The defense has recorded three in each game so far, giving them nine takeaways after just eight takeaways on defense in the entire 2024 season.

Jacksonville leads the NFL with seven interceptions and nine takeaways through the first three weeks, including multiple interceptions in each game. Since 2000, only five previous teams have recorded two-or-more interceptions in each of their first four games of a season: 2021 Dallas Cowboys (first five games), 2018 Miami Dolphins (first four), 2010 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (first four), 2007 Oakland Raiders (first four) and 2003 Kansas City Chiefs (first four).

This is not just by coincidence, either. Campanile and the Jaguars' staff stressed turnovers all offseason, and the popular belief was that a move to a zone-coverage based scheme would directly result in more big plays. So far, they have been right on the money.

"I think it's a little bit of everything. The play calling is obviously more aggressive but then we also had guys in the back end that are in the right spot, wants to be physical at point of contact and they just want to play for each other," Josh Hines-Allen said on Sunday. "Once we all buy into what we're doing up front, good things happen, obviously. Good things are happening. We trust each other. Rushing, coverage, we trust each other a lot. [LB] Devin Lloyd is playing out of his mind right now. Him and Foye [LB Foye Oluokun] both. Each level, guys are playing at a superstar level. We'll be a tough team to beat."

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