When the Jacksonville Jaguars traded for cornerback Greg Newsome, the expectation was that he would be an upgrade over Tyson Campbell. This made sense on paper. After all, Campbell had struggled earlier this season, and Newsome was seemingly a better fit in Anthony Campanile’s zone-heavy scheme. In practice, though, that hasn’t been the case.
Newsome hasn’t been able to hit his stride, and it hasn’t helped that he recently suffered a knee injury. Things got so badly in the win over the Arizona Cardinals that he hardly got any defensive snaps in the second half of the game.
With six weeks left in the offseason, maybe it’s time for Jacksonville to accept that the trade was a miss.
The Jaguars are waiting for a return on the Greg Newsome trade
Greg Newsome suffered a knee injury in the win over the Los Angeles Chargers. He was listed as limited for the Cardinals game but ended up starting. However, the Northwestern Wildcat logged just six snaps and was eventually phased out in favor of Christian Braswell in the 27-24 win.
Michael DiRocco of ESPN wrote that Newsome’s decreased snap count was due to a coaching decision, so it’s fair to say that the 2021 first-round pick has not lived up to expectations in Jacksonville. But even if it were because of the injury, availability is the most important ability on the football field, and if you cannot contribute on game day, it doesn’t matter how talented you are.
Jaguars CB Greg Newsome II was not on the field on defense much of the game because of a coach’s decision. He did play on special teams, though. He also was dealing with ankle injury all week, too.
— Michael DiRocco (@ESPNdirocco) November 24, 2025
To make matters worse, Newsome is in a contract year, and he hasn’t done enough to build his stock ahead of free agency. Meanwhile, Tyson Campbell is thriving with the Cleveland Browns. He’s even recorded the first pick-6 of his career. Simply put, Cleveland is the early winner of this trade.
The Jaguars suddenly have a need at corner with Greg Newsome struggling
Injuries have depleted the Jaguars’ cornerback room this season. Jourdan Lewis is dealing with a neck injury that has forced him to sit out three games, while Travis Hunter landed on Injured Reserve earlier this year. That’s pressed Montaric Brown and Christian Braswell into featured roles. The silver lining is that both have played well after holding reserve roles last year. Ditto Jarrian Jones, who struggled in the boundaries last year but has thrived in the slot.
But as solid as the trio has been, the depth at cornerback is running thin. It’s also worth noting that both Brown and Greg Newsome are slated to hit the open market next year. The team’s brass would surely want to re-sign the former, it may be thought, given that Jacksonville will face a cap crunch next year.
But even if the Jaguars manage to bring back Brown, they’ll need to add depth at cornerback next year, mostly because the Newsome trade hasn’t panned out. Just recently, Bleacher Report suggested Jacksonville draft Ohio State standout Davison Igbinosun. He would most definitely give the cornerback unit a boost.
Now, things could always take a turn, but at this point, it’s hard to picture the Jaguars bringing Greg Newsome back. He hasn’t simply done enough to warrant a new deal.
