The Jacksonville Jaguars have made one of their first major hires under the Liam Coen regime. The club has agreed to make former Green Bay Packers assistant Anthony Campanile its next defensive coordinator, the team announced Thursday evening.
“Anthony Campanile represents exactly what we want to be as a defensive unit and football team,” Coen said in a statement released by the team, via NFL.com. “He brings an aggressive defensive mindset and a system that is adaptable to our players and allows them to play fast and physical.”
Campanile, 42, has risen through the NFL coaching ranks rather quickly, culminating in this elevation to defensive coordinator for Jacksonville. He initially broke into the league in 2020 as a linebackers coach with the Miami Dolphins. Campanile held that post through the 2023 season before joining Matt LeFleur’s Green Bay Packers staff this season as the linebackers coach and run game coordinator. Prior to that, Campanile worked at Rutgers, Boston College, and, most recently, Michigan at the collegiate level.
Campanile helped the Packers reach the playoffs in 2024 as the defense ranked sixth in the league in points allowed (19.9) and fifth in yards allowed (314.5).
The New Jersey native will now hope to sprinkle some of that magic onto a Jaguars defense that was one of the worst in the league in 2024. Jacksonville allowed 5.9 yards per play (tied for 31st in the NFL) and 25.6 points per game (tied for 29th). The Jaguars also ranked in the bottom half of the league on third down and red zone efficiency, so Campanile does have his work cut out for him.
