Why Calais Campbell 'Defines' a Pro Football Hall of Famer

By John Turney 

If there were a Hall of Fame for NFL players who did great things for their community and were all-around good men, Calais Campbell would be a first-ballot selection.

The 2008 second-round draft pick was the recipient of the 2019 Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. That same year, Athletes in Action, an organization that mentors coaches and athletes. gave him the Bart Starr Award. In 2022, the NFL named him its winner of the Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award, and this year the NFL Players Association chose him for its Alan Page Award for community service. 

Few NFL players have been recognized so widely for their philanthropy.

But the Pro Football Hall of Fame is not about what is done off the field -- good or bad. It's what is done on it, and Campbell has done that effectively and consistently as he nears the end of his 17th season. But has it been a Hall-of-Fame career? If 2024 is his final season, would he eventually have his 6-foot-8, 307-pound frame fitted for a Gold Jacket?

Hard to say.

That's because defensive linemen who often play inside don't always gain the attention from Hall voters as the outside stars -- i.e., the sack meisters. Heck, Kevin Williams was a five-time consensus All-Pro, and he can't even make a semifinalists' list. 

But Campbell may be different. 

For openers, he may not be finished, recently telling The Athletic's Zak Keefer that he may play "until the wheels fall off" ... and the wheels are still rolling, thank you very much. Campbell takes extraordinary care of his body, spending around a quarter of a million dollars a year on body specialists, a nutritionist and chef to get the most from his aging body.

And it's worked.

He's still playing like a Pro Bowler. So much so that at this year's trade deadline, the Baltimore Ravens tried to acquire him to bolster their defensive front. Campbell played there from 2020-22, so they were familiar with his skill set. But Miami coach Mike McDaniel refused. to let him go.

At that time, the Dolphins were trying to dig out of a hole and felt that, with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa returning from concussion protocol, they not only had a shot to be successful; but would have a better chance with a solid defense that included Campbell.

"He's like the LeBron James of the NFL right now," teammate Jonnu Smith said on "The Pat McAfee Show." "As far as his age and the production that he brings to the game, (he's) still playing at a high level. I mean, the guy is 1,000 years old and playing like he's 21."

Exaggerations aside, Smith is right.

For example, last Sunday he took down Texans' running back Joe Mixon two yards behind the line of scrimmage for his 105th career stuff (a tackle for loss on a run or pass play other than a sack ... and that's a lot. According to researcher/historian Nick Webster, few players ever reach triple digits. But, when combined with 109-1/2 sacks, they bring Campbell's career numbers to 214-1/2 plays behind the line scrimmage.

But that is not all.

Having 100 sacks and 100 stuffs puts Campbell in rarefied air. Webster's figures show he's one of five defensive linemen to achieve it -- that is if you include outside linebacker/defensive end Terrell Suggs as a lineman. And the others? Deacon Jones, Bruce Smith, J.J. Watt and Alan Page.

That sounds like a career worthy of the Hall of Fame.

If you don't like that, then go by the official tackles for loss (TFL) stat that was introduced in 1999. It's not as comprehensive and is scored in an odd way -- let's just say I don't love it -- but it's useful. And it's official. So some like it.

In that statistic, Campbell is third all-time with 185 (and counting) TFLs. Only Suggs and J.J. Watt have more. He tops Aaron Donald, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen and everybody else who played this century.

That also sounds like the stuff of a Hall-of-Famer.

Football analytics site Pro Football Focus (PFF) this year ranks him sixth in the NFL at his position. Sixth. At the age of 38. It's the ninth time Campbell has been in PFF's top 10 in his 17 years, with a handful of others when he was close. In 2018, for instance, he ranked first. In 2016 and 2017, he was second. And in 2019, he was third.

Perhaps not now but in six, eight or 10 years -- when Campbell's case is presented to the Hall's board of selectors -- voters may pay more attention to analytics sites like PFF or NextGen Stats as the group gets younger and is receptive to more than just counting stats. If they do, Campbell's grades and ranking will sound Hall-of-Fame worthy.

One group the current board is receptive to is Proscout, Inc. (PSI), an independent scouting firm that several NFL teams use for personnel evaluations and other insights. PSI's work has been a consistent resource for voters since 1994 when former Sports Illustrated writer and Hall voter Paul Zimmerman utilized the expertise of PSI's founder, the late Mike Giddings, to strengthen the Hall-of-Fame case for cornerback Jimmy Johnson.

It helped. Johnson was enshrined in 1994. And it helped the cases of other players who now own Gold Jackets.

The ratings by PSI on Campbell are similar to PFF's. Seven times it has him in what are called "single digits," which means among the top nine, and another five where it evaluates him as "blue," its highest ranking.

Again, that sounds like the stuff of the Hall of Fame.

A few years ago Giddings said that Campbell "defines a Hall of Famer. Tall, fast, strong, moving all downs. (He's) blue vs. TE, T, G, C." That last sentence is telling. It says that Campbell excels vs. all those positions -- tight end, tackle, etc. -- which means he's elite on the inside or out, over whomever a coach wants to play him.

But that's what Campbell has done throughout his career -- play multiple positions and play them well.

With the Cardinals, he was an end in a 3-4 defense. But when he would move inside for passing situations, it was over a guard or even a center. Later, after he signed a free-agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, he was a 4-3 end. But, again, on passing downs, he slid inside to defensive tackle.

In the last five years with the Ravens, Falcons and Dolphins, you could find him lining up everywhere, without the structure of his early years. With the Falcons last year, he played 63 percent of the time on the edge, with the rest more to the middle. This year, it's more inside than out. 

With Campbell, you just don't know where he'll line up ... and that uniqueness is part of his greatness.

"In the run game," he told the Palm Beach Post, "I am more dominant at the defensive end position. In the pass game, I am more dominant in the interior position ... but I also feel like I am pretty good in all space."

None of that was lost on Hall-of-Fame voters when they chose him to the all-decade of the 2010s, along with J.J. Watt, Julius Peppers and Cameron Jordan. The AP voted him first-team All-Pro in 2017 and second-team All-Pro in 2014 and 2016, while the Pro Football Writers voted him Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, a year when he was just six votes shy of winning the AP award.

Additionally, he was a Pro Bowler five times and an alternate once.

That also sounds like the stuff of the Hall of Fame.

The University of Miami product currently has over 900 combined tackles and is credited with 63 passed defensed. He's also blocked nine place kicks and defensively scored five times, with three touchdowns and twice on safeties. Those kinds of numbers, plus the sacks, are rare -- and Hall-worthy

By the end of the year, he will have played over 260 games, with over 240 starts, and that's third all-time in both. Plus, his 17 seasons are exceeded by only three defensive linemen. 

His longevity is certainly the stuff of a Hall-of-Famer, too.

But will it be? It should. 

Calais Campbell is one of those players who can stop the run and rush the passer ... who can knock down a pass or a field goal ... and who is tough, durable and a leader. Guys like that deserve to have their careers recognized with a bronze bust in Canton. 

"With his passion leadership and toughness," said Ravens' GM Eric DeCosta, "Calais has undoubtedly produced a Hall-of-Fame-worthy career.

Now you know why.

Career stats through Week 15, 2024—