Raiders potential trade target: Calais Campbell

The Jacksonville Jaguars are going to have a potential offseason fire sale, and have already helped AFC West foe Denver by sending cornerback A.J. Bouye for a fourth-round pick this week.

We previously looked at the idea of the Raiders acquiring pass-rusher Yannick Ngakoue, but other Jaguars’ vets may be available — primarily defensive lineman Calais Campbell.

If so, the Raiders might want to think about this. Campbell is a bad man (on the field at least). He’s a big, strong defensive end who can take pressure off of Clelin Ferrell and even allow Ferrell to play inside, which he did some last year.

I don’t think adding Campbell would delay Ferrell’s development, either. Campbell is a probably rotational player at the age of 33 (turning 34 on Sept. 1) but he can still be effective. He is a very fundamentally sound player and is a Pro Football Focus favorite.

Campbell had 6.5 sacks last season, and has 31.5 sacks in three seasons with the Jags. But he is entering the final season of a four-year, $60 million deal and the Jaguars may want to shed his salary.

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If the Raiders traded for Campbell, they’d likely want to restructure his deal. If he is cut, Campbell likely won’t get $15 million on the open market, so he could be open to a new deal — especially moving from Florida to Nevada, where he could still avoid paying state taxes.

He probably wouldn’t cost much, perhaps a late-round pick. But giving that up would allow the Raiders to get their hands on Campbell before he gets cut and is allowed to go to the open market, where he’d likely get much interest from contending teams. Campbell is also an A-plus person off the field. He was just named the 2019 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year, which is the most prestigious off-field award in the game.

Here is an example of what a swell guy the big fella is:

At a decent price, both in salary and trade compensation, this would be a solid endeavor for the Raiders to consider.