Telvin Smith’s Jaguars teammates unsurprisingly support him

The Jacksonville Jaguars fanbase was shocked a week ago to learn that starting linebacker and team captain Telvin Smith had announced he will sit out the 2019 season and was vague about his reasons. There’s obviously something going on serious enough that Smith felt it was walking away from millions of dollars in 2019 to take care.

Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone indicated he hasn’t been able to speak with Smith, however he did offer his support for whatever was going on and that sometimes football isn’t the most important thing. Smith’s teammates Calais Campbell and Myles Jack shared the same kind of sentiment, but they have actually spoken with the Jaguars linebacker.

″I was able to speak to him a little bit you know and that was good for me,″ Campbell told Jon Reid of The Florida Times-Union. ″He’s an incredible guy, knows the game of football. When he says he needs a moment, need some time, you have to respect that. This is guy that dedicated his life to the game and has for a long time. I’m here for him.″

″We’ve had communication,″ Jack told Reid. ″On my end, everything is clear. I completely understand where he’s coming from and I think on his end there’s more important things he needs to take care of in his life than the game of football, which I respect. I think that’s great because it’s hard for a lot of people to walk away from this game. The way he’s doing it on his own terms, you got to respect it. I’m definitely going to miss him out there.″

As for some speculation on Myles Jack moving to the weakside linebacker position to replace Smith in the lineup, the now veteran linebacker indicated that he feels comfortable at middle linebacker.