Calais Campbell Is Pondering His NFL Future

By Jordan Long

The Baltimore Ravens season ended in the Super Wild Card Round when they were defeated by the Cincinnati Bengals 24-17.  After the game, defensive tackle Calais Campbell is going to decide his NFL future and his desire to keep playing the game.

            Campbell finished his 15th NFL season and 3rd with the Ravens.  This year he appeared in 14 regular season games for the Ravens.  Campbell totaled 5.5 sacks and 36 tackles.  That doesn’t count the times he pressured or hit the quarterback.

            In the playoff loss to the Bengals, the Bengals’ offensive line did a great job of not allowing Campbell to be a factor on defense.  They made sure to block him so he couldn’t pressure quarterback Joe Burrow.  Campbell finished the game with 2 tackles.

            Once the game was over, Campbell was pondering his NFL future.  According to profootballtalk.nbcsports.com, Campbell said, “I don’t think it would be wise to decide so quickly. I think you have to go through a process. So, I’m going to give myself a few weeks to kind of go through that process and decide after that.  This is definitely . . . It’s going to be hard to walk away that’s for sure. So, we’ll see. I’ll talk to the front office and talk to the coaches and I’ll think. There’s a chance I could be back here again next year; I just have to go through my process.”

            Campbell could retire. He is 36 years old and will be 37 once the 2023 season starts. Campbell has played the NFL game for 3 different franchises, the Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Baltimore Ravens.  In his career to this point, Campbell totaled 99 sacks and 809 tackles.   He has also been voted in the Pro Bowl 6 times.  There is only one thing missing in  Campbell’s great career,  a Super Bowl ring.  There is no guarantee he will win that with the Ravens next year.

            One reason for Campbell to play one more year is his contract.  He could opt-out of his current deal which would give the Ravens a dead cap space hit of $2.44 million.  If he decides to come back, he will be paid around $8.94 million.  Campbell is going to do what is best for him.  It seems he has another year in him.  He is going to take his time to make a final decision.