James Gladstone Provides Instant Help for Jaguars' DB Room

In the wake of the Darnell Savage release, the Jacksonville Jaguars and general manager James Gladstone have moved quickly to add a new face to their safety room.

The Jaguars announced the signing of Minnesota Vikings cornerback Kahlef Hailassie on Wednesday, one day after the team surprisingly released Savage.

Hailassie now joins a safety room consisting of Eric Murray, Andrew Wingard, Antonio Johnson, and rookie safety Rayuan Lane.

New Addition

"Hailassie was most recently on the Minnesota Vikings practice squad. He joined the Vikings this offseason after spending his first two NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns (2023-24)," the Jaguars said in a release.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward (1) shakes hands with Minnesota Vikings cornerback Kahlef Hailassie (25) after an NFL pre-season game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"With Cleveland, Hailassie played in 10 games (one start) and recorded six tackles (one for loss) and one pass defensed as well as two special teams tackles. He originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Kansas City in May of 2023 and spent the offseason with the Chiefs before being waived and joining the Browns.

"The Elk Grove, Calif. native played collegiately at Western Kentucky University (2021-22) for two seasons after spending time at Independence Community College (2019-20) and the University of Oregon (2018). Hailassie earned All-Conference USA honors in both of his seasons as a Hilltopper and totaled 122 tackles (11 for loss), 19 passes defensed, four interceptions, 3.0 sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery in 26 games. He played all 13 games as a true freshman at Oregon in 2018."

The Jaguars' starting safety spots have been held down by Murray and Wingard over the last two weeks, with the duo combining for three of the Jaguars' six takeaways.

Savage played 48 snaps (36% of snaps) for the defense in the first two weeks as the Jaguars went with more three-safety looks than in past years, though it remains to be seen if that will continue following the release of the seventh-year safety.

“Yeah, I think every game's different but it definitely gives you a little bit of flexibility against when they play smaller groupings, more receivers on the field and it kind of gives you an opportunity to play different guys," Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile said last week.

"Like I said, every game's different, we may not do that in every game but it does give you some certain flexibilities. And the guys who were in there at those positions have done a good job of being involved in the pressures, being able to play the run game and then obviously some of the stuff we're giving them the opportunity to do in the pass game, in the pass coverage.”

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