The Ravens cut Calais Campbell when he was 36 years old. As soon as they did, they wanted him back. Three years later, it finally happened.
Campbell put pen to paper on a one-year Baltimore reunion Wednesday, signing up for a 19th season that will keep him playing at 40 years old – the oldest defender in the NFL.
Campbell never aspired to play so long. He just still loves football and teams keep asking him to play it because he's still so good.
"I've always told myself once I got old, it was one year at a time. Play well enough that if you want to play again, you'll have opportunity," Campbell said.
"It's cool to still be wanted. There's a lot of people out there who want to play that can't get a job. I keep wanting to play, so I keep playing."
Campbell said multiple teams pursued him this offseason. He told his agent to put them on hold because he wasn't sure whether he was going to feel up for another year until he started training in April, well after free agency opened.
"Do I want to go through everything it takes to be good at playing football? Because I'm not going to just sign and be average. I'm going to push myself to the limits … and doing that is painful," Campbell said. "It's a lot of work. It's stress. You put your body under extreme stress."
Ultimately, the answer was yes. Once he started working out, his body felt good enough for another run at it, and the love of the game was still there.
"I don't know if there's many people who love [football] as much as me," Campbell said. "You definitely can't love it more than me."
After Campbell spent three seasons in Baltimore (2020-2022), the Ravens released him in a cost-saving move. It was the only time in his career that he's been cut and a "humbling experience" he hasn't forgotten.
DeCosta told Campbell at the time that he'd like to get him back at a lower price, but the Falcons ended up giving him a raise to go south.
After one year in Atlanta, Campbell bounced to Miami. The Ravens tried to reunite at the trade deadline, but then-Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel nixed the trade, afraid to lose an integral team leader when Miami was trying to dig itself out of an early-season hole. Campbell was disappointed the trade didn't materialize, but he finished strong.
He went to Arizona last offseason, and Campbell said the Ravens again tried to trade for him at the deadline but instead landed Dre'Mont Jones, a versatile EDGE defender who could also play on the defensive line.
Meanwhile, Campbell finished last season with 6.5 sacks, the third-highest pass rush rate among all defensive tackles, and the 14th-best run defense grade among all interior defensive linemen, per Pro Football Focus.
Arizona wanted him back, but after a challenging 3-14 season, Campbell decided he wanted to get back to winning more. The Ravens offered that and were adamant that they wanted him back. Campbell said a reunion "has been a long time coming."
"This year was a lot more pressure than it has been in years past," Campbell said. "Eric DeCosta called pretty much every year, but this was more like, 'I've got to have you. This is going to make a big difference.' I felt that.
"I want to have fun playing football. Well, the number one way of having fun and playing football is making plays and winning games. … Baltimore made the most sense when it came down to that."
Campbell is excited to join forces with new Head Coach Jesse Minter, who he called a "very brilliant football mind." Campbell is pumped to team up with Nnamdi Madubuike, Travis Jones, the Ravens' young outside linebackers, and more former teammates and help them continue to grow.
Campbell isn't the type of player that's going to play every down anymore, but he's found a niche training his body to give his team 40 plays at an "elite level."
"When the game's on the line in the fourth quarter in a two-minute situation, I like myself," Campbell said. "I don't care who it is, Will Anderson, all the best of them. [When] the game's on the line, I like myself."
Campbell still has that chip on his shoulder. The competitor in him feels he's "not that much different" from Anderson, who inked a record-setting three-year $150 million contract this offseason. He just impacts the game for fewer plays.
"But I'm still a problem out there," Campbell said. "You still got to see me, too."
The only other NFL defender to play into his 40s was Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green, who played until he was 42 and is now a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Campbell feels more guys could have played longer if they were willing to go through the pain.
At this point, Campbell knows exactly what he needs to do to get his body ready to perform. He's had general managers tell him he's "going to fall off a cliff eventually," but it hasn't happened yet, and the edge doesn't seem very close.
"I don't know when it's going to happen. All I can do is go as far as I can go and give it my best effort. And if my best effort is enough, then everybody's happy and I get to play again. If it's not, then I guess they lock the door on me and send me on my way," Campbell said.
"I feel good. All the fans out there, if you're worried about me, I can't guarantee success. But I feel very similar this year [as] I did last year, and I liked what I did last year. Hopefully I can do that again, maybe a little bit more, just because I feel like we'll be in big moments a lot more often, greatness comes out of you a little bit more."
