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Michael DiRocco, ESPN Staff Writer
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Josh Allen received a short text from Atlanta Falcons defensive lineman Calais Campbell, a former Jaguar, earlier this week. It was just four words, but they meant a lot: Go break the record.
Allen didn’t want to disappoint his friend and mentor, so he broke the Jaguars’ single-season sack record on Sunday. He sacked Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young three times in the Jaguars’ 26-0 victory — giving Allen 16.5 sacks this season, two more than Campbell’s previous single-season record of 14.5 set in 2017.
“I’m a legacy type of guy,” Allen said after the game. “This is a huge accomplishment for myself, the team, and for my family as well. I didn’t do it by myself, first and foremost, so shout out to everybody who was a part of it.”
Allen also gave Campbell a shoutout on the field, doing the same home-run celebration that Campbell does after he makes a sack. Allen had been waiting to do it for almost a month since he had been sitting on 13.5 sacks since Dec. 4.
He admitted after Sunday’s game that he had been focusing on breaking the record too much for the last three weeks.
“When you play football it’s all about instincts and just being free,” Allen said. “And so you start thinking about it so much, you start getting tense. You start [wondering] when it’s going to come, how is it going to come, what moment is it going to come, what are you going to do? Instead of going out there being free.”
Allen, 26, is having the best season of his five-year career. He’s third in the NFL in sacks, second in quarterback pressures (94) and was second in Pro Bowl fan voting among AFC outside linebackers (the teams will be announced Wednesday).
There are multiple reasons why Allen’s play has reached a higher level in 2023. He has a better understanding of coordinator Mike Caldwell’s defense in its second season, he’s finishing plays more consistently and is playing for a new contract this offseason.
Plus, he has onions.
“Going with onions,” Allen said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
ALLEN’S TALKING ABOUT actual onions. What you put on your burgers, in a salad, or drop in the fryer. Five dollars a bag at your local grocery store. Onions.
In addition to adopting an anti-inflammatory diet, Allen has turned to functional medicine to get through the pounding his body experiences during an 18-week NFL season. That’s where the onions come in, because they’re part of functional medicine’s holistic approach to treating chronic disease. Onions have been used for thousands of years for medicinal purposes, such as treating wounds, pneumonia, coughs and headaches, per the National Institute of Health.
In Allen’s case, it reduces swelling. The night before every game Allen applies an onion and sea salt poultice to his feet, covers it in plastic wrap and lets it sit for a half hour or so. The treatment was prescribed by Dr. Julie Buckley, who, in addition to being a pediatrician, practices functional medicine working with athletes.
“Immediately as you’re mixing them up, it gets really warm,” Buckley said. “The chemistry starts immediately and you apply that to whatever is swollen or whatever is retaining fluid. And it is just amazing the amount of fluid that comes off of something like that. And the first time I did it with Josh, he was like ‘What?’
“We pulled at least a half a cup of clear fluid off of his foot and he was like, ‘My God, it works better. Wow. This is amazing.’ So we’ve been doing that for quite some time and he finds it really helpful.”
Allen and Buckley connected toward the end of the 2022 season. He was hooked after the first treatment and has used it religiously the night before every game. Buckley traveled with him on the road in 2023 — including the 12 days the Jaguars spent in London.
Buckley is the one who encouraged Allen to adopt an anti-inflammatory diet — which is based on eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids (such as salmon) and Vitamin C, for example — as part of a treatment plan to help him maintain his body throughout the seven-month season.
“I think most professional athletes at this point have figured out that inflammation is sort of the Antichrist in terms of their performance, their rehab, and how they heal,” said Buckley, who has worked with professional football players for 17 years.
“And I think that players figure that out as the years go by and it becomes harder and harder for them to rehabilitate and to get better.
WHAT ELSE HAS played a role in his career season? The additional flexibility Caldwell has given the players in their second season in the defensive system. Allen has been able to make adjustments based on his matchup instead of being completely married to the rush design, for example.
“We’ve got a blitz, so the only thing we can do is an outside edge [rush],” Allen said. “We know dang well this guy [the offensive tackle] over-sets the majority of the time but we’re going to the outside edge. We can fall inside now. Obviously you’ve got to know who you’re rushing with and knowing how you’re rushing, but it’s just those little things that are giving us the confidence to go out there and go with what we study and go out there and make plays.”
Allen has done that this season at a higher rate than he ever has. He already has career highs in tackles (61), quarterback pressures, pressure percentage (20.1%) and sacks. Those 94 QB pressures trail only Cowboys’ Micah Parsons.
“He’s playing at a high level,” Caldwell said. “You look at the work he put in this offseason and just going back, the focus, understanding the game plan, understanding the rush plan, and he’s going out there and performing. Last year, we had an issue with missed sacks, not getting the guy on the ground. He’s getting the guy on the ground and his numbers are what they are.”
Allen needs 11 more sacks as a member of the Jaguars to tie Tony Brackens’ franchise career record (55). Whether he gets the chance to approach the latter is unclear at this point because he’s playing on his fifth-year option earning $11.5 million after the Jaguars did not offer him a contract extension last offseason.
There’s no guarantee they’ll offer him one after this season, either, even though he’s been by far the Jaguars’ best defensive player and pass-rusher. Allen has 43.4% of the Jaguars’ team sack total (38) and a team-high 27 quarterback hits. The next closest player in sacks and QB hits is Travon Walker (nine sacks, 15 QB hits).
The Jaguars do have $31 million in cap space available in 2024 to do a deal with Allen, especially if the team cuts several veterans with high cap numbers (such as right guard Brandon Scherff, safety Rayshawn Jenkins or linebacker Foyesade Oluokun, which could save the team between $17 and $40.5 million depending on whether the cuts are designated as post-June 1 cuts). GM Trent Baalke didn’t offer Allen a contract extension last offseason and he may opt to take the approach of making Allen prove he can be a dominant pass-rusher again before committing to a long-term, big-money deal.
Baalke has said previously he does not like to do deals during the season so any discussions with Allen won’t start until sometime in the spring. Using the franchise tag — which is estimated to be around $24 million dollars — would be an option, too, which might be the option the Jaguars choose especially since the team is expected to work on signing quarterback Trevor Lawrence to an extension this offseason as well.
Two recent deals that could be a beginning point in negotiations with Allen if Baalke does opt to go that route: Chicago gave Montez Sweat, 27, a four-year, $98 million contract with $72.8 million guaranteed and Green Bay gave Rashan Gary, 26, a four-year, $107.5 million contract with $34.6 million guaranteed.
“You always want to see where the market’s at, especially my position,” Allen said. “Obviously I see where those guys got paid and it’s like, ‘Okay, that’s nice.’ But for what I want to do this year and things I want to achieve, it’s don’t settle. So if I continue to find ways to be successful then good things may come.”
A deal similar to — or greater than — the ones Sweat and Gary got would definitely … buy a lot of onions.
“He can purchase an onion farm,” Buckley said.
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