Earlier this month Telvin Smith announced he would not be playing football in 2019. By all reports, the Jaguars coaches and management found out via Telvin's Instagram post about his decision at the same time as the rest of the world. While the coaching staff and Telvin's teammates have been nothing but supportive in his decision to sit out the year, several of his defensive teammates have expressed their concern with his health in an article by John Reid of The Florida Times-Union.
Defensive Tackle Abry Jones reached out to Telvin to make sure he was ok, ″Since I know he’s taking a year off for his body to get healthy, I just wanted to check in with him mentally and make sure there wasn’t anything I could do for him. He knows what he’s doing. He’s not in la la land. As long as I know he’s ok mentally. There are some things he needs to get done for himself. We just got to give him support.
Linebacker Myles Jack took a different approach in contacting Telvin, trying to see how firmly Smith felt about wanting to sit out the year. ″He’s made his decision, plus at the same time it’s early,″ Jack said. ″It’s May. You never know at this point. I feel he’s firm at where’s he is at. I think he’s at peace with his decision, so I’m standing with him. I’m not the only person in the locker room that have talked to him. Guys have reached out and he’s given them his prospective on things. At the end of the day, everybody has come to an agreement that we understand where he’s coming from.″
Veteran Defensive End Calais Campbell also shares concern for Telvin and his health, ″I think he’s going to be just fine. I think he’s kind of dedicating his time and efforts to take care of it,″ Campbell said adding that it's not like its something 'terrible'.