Newly-signed defensive end Calais Campbell wants to be like Bruce Smith, Reggie White and Julius Peppers - all of whom were highly-productive NFL defenders in their late 30s.
The Hall of Famer White won the defensive player of the year at 37 and played until he was 39. Fellow Hall of Famer Smith played until he was 40. Peppers had 16 sacks in his final two seasons - when he was 37 and 38 years old.
Campbell, who recently signed a one-year deal with the Falcons, will turn 37 on Sept. 1 - nine days before the 2023 season opener.
“I feel like I’ve got a lot in me,” Campbell said on virtual call on Monday. “I feel like I can play a lot of good football. I go through a very tough offseason to make sure that I’m prepared and ready. Then I have a team of people that I work with to keep me going during the season. A lot of that is nutrient and everything else as well.”
Campbell, who was a second-round pick (50th) by the Cardinals in 2008, played the past three seasons with the Ravens. In 2022, Campbell played 550 defensive snaps (62%) for the Ravens and 123 special teams (35%) snaps. He had 36 tackles, 5.5 sacks, 14 quarterback hits and four tackles for losses.
Campbell believes he could play about 60 percent of the snaps for the Falcons.
“Sixty percent sound about right,” Campbell said. “I think I can go out there and give you a high-quality 40 plays a game at a high level. Thirty-five of them are going to be elite plays in my opinion.”
Campbell said that the Falcons were not on his list when free agency started. He started to warm up to signing with the team after a 20-minute conversation with head coach Arthur Smith.
“I have a lot of respect for him from my time in Jacksonville and he was with the Tennessee Titans,” Campbell said. “We competed. His system was one of the hardest to kind of study. I pride myself on being a guy who can study tape at a high level, but when you played Tennessee....I always respected his offense.”
Arthur Smith shared with Campbell his vision for the Falcons and stressed their “win-now” mentality.
“When we had a conversation, I really liked his vision for the team,” Campbell said. “I really thought he had a great game plan for where the team is at and where it’s going. I really felt like we are going to surprise a lot of people... this year we are going to be competitive, tough team and win a lot of ball games.”
The Falcons have strung together five consecutive losing seasons and have gone 7-10 in each of Smith’s first two seasons with the franchise. A winning-season would be a major breakthrough in the Falcons’ rebuilding efforts.
“One of the other things that I like was that they said my role would be playing true (defensive) end,” Campbell said. “Playing on the edge on first- and second -down, which was really very appealing….they didn’t say Cam Jordan role, but based on the defense they ran with Ryan Neilson, it looks like that Cam Jordan kind of role. It was very appealing to me. I did a lot of research. I felt like I can go and do that at a high level.”
Campbell didn’t play when the Ravens beat the Falcons 17-9 on Dec. 24 last season. He watched tape before the game to help the younger defenders get ready for the Falcons.
“I saw a very potent run game which is on par with who Arthur Smith as a coach is,” Campbell said. “Being able to …..that wide zone, cut back, foot in the ground. (Running back Tyler) Allgeier, he looked special as a rookie coming out of BYU. I was like…I didn’t know he was going to be that good, but when you watch him on tape, he was special.”
Other facets of the team also caught Campbell’s attention.
“(Cordarrelle Patterson) and then even (Caleb) Huntley, they had a three-headed monster of running backs who were going out there and making big plays,” Campbell said. “The play action game is going to open up.”
“(Desmond) Ridder played his best game against us, up until that point. He played great. (Wide receiver) Drake London looked really good. I just saw a lot of talent.”
Campbell doubled-down on his notion that Falcons are on verge of a breakthrough season.
“Looking at the schedule and watching the games, they were 1-7 on the road last year, all but of them was a one-score ball game,” Campbell said. “At home they were 6-3. That tells me that they are just a young team that is figuring it out. They were in a lot of tough ball games.”
The Falcons have revamped the defensive staff and have added other players in free agency including safety Jessie Bates, linebackers Kaden Elliss and Tae Davis, cornerback Mike Hughes and defensive tackle Daniel Onyemata.
“I’m a big fan of Jessie Bates,” Campbell said. “We played within the same division and (were) competing. I just love the way he plays football. Onyemata, another guy that I have respect for. He’s made a lot of plays.”
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