Calais Campbell – June 18, 2024
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Tuesday, June 18, 2024
DT Calais Campbell
(What are your memories of playing for Miami in college? You were part of the last bunch of Canes that actually played in the Orange Bowl.) – “Yeah, a lot of great memories. It was a great place to go to school. I really enjoyed the whole time here. It’s crazy – my first time on campus was 20 years ago. (laughter) Coming up on 20 years ago in the fall, so wow – time flies. I’m happy to be still playing football, this was a dream of mine since I could remember. I love every bit about the game. I’m really lucky enough – I’ve been a fan that’s lucky enough to play it. My time at ‘The U’ was special, that fraternity you have when you go to school there is second to none. You get the love from the city at a high level, but you also know being a Dolphin is another level not just in the city – it turns it up a little bit. So all these years later, it’s kind of cool to become a Dolphin.”
(Since then, you played in the Super Bowl as a rookie with the Cardinals but haven’t been back since. You’ve gotten close but haven’t been back. What makes you feel this Dolphins team can compete for a Super Bowl and maybe be the ones to get you back to that final game?) – “That’s a big reason why I signed here, because I feel like there’s a really good opportunity here. Very talented team all over the field, both offense and defense. When you go through the roster of who you have and see so many people that I feel like we can play together and build that team chemistry you need – we’ll be a force to be reckoned with. I really like the coaching staff. I mean, (Defensive Coordinator) Anthony Weaver is a guy I’m very familiar with, (have) a lot of respect for, and he’s a big reason I really believe in this team. I know the kind of work ethic he has and just the kind of man he is, and I really think this defense is going to be a top – I don’t want to go too crazy, but it’s going to be a really good defense.”
(What keeps you playing at this stage, at this level? How much did you think about retirement? Or you just knew you always was going to play this season?) – “I mean, I thought about it. I don’t know if I thought about it for very long, though. It was one of those things – I mean the last maybe three or four years, I go through the season with everything I have, trying to empty the tank so that if I want to retire at the end of the year, I feel like I could go out and I feel like I gave football everything I had. But once the season was over, I felt pretty healthy. Everything was feeling too good. It’s like man, you’re playing football at a high level still, why not do it one more time? Going through that process just trying to figure out if I really wanted to do it, it really came down to just with the family – talking to the wife and kids, all my support teams, the people I value in my immediate family. It really came down to do I want to go through the process of what it takes to be good at it again, because physically and the desire and the love for the game has never left, not even a little bit. Obviously, there was a time where I was a lot more fast and athletic, but I’m still pretty athletic and still can get the job done on the football field. I have to learn to use other parts of my game, bringing a lot more strength, but I still have enough finesse and everything else. I’ve got a full arsenal of tools. What keeps me going though is the love for the game. The love for the game is No. 1 – I really am just like a true fan that’s lucky enough to play it. I talk to guys that are younger that are like, ‘Man, why are you still doing this?’ And it’s like, ‘Because I love it and I’m still good at it. I don’t to suck at it though, that’s for sure.’ (laughter) So if I ever feel like my play is dropping, I can’t be that guy, I can’t still deliver in big moments, then it’d be time to hang it up. But as of right now, I felt like towards the end of last year I was playing the best ball of the season. I just wanted to go through that process of considering shutting it down, just from the standpoint of I know what it takes to be good at it, but I’ve already been paying the price of going through that whole process. So I’m excited that I got this opportunity to go out there, put my hand in the pile and try to go to the end of the year. But there is also that level of I haven’t had a chance to play in that big game since my rookie year. Coming to a team like this, I feel like there is that opportunity there. Obviously, everybody feels like they have that opportunity to hoist that Lombardi Trophy right now. All 32 teams are competing with the mindset that they can be the team, and it’s hard. I’ve been playing for a long time, and I felt like I’ve had some teams that were worthy of it and we didn’t get there. We didn’t get it done. So it has to be more than that, but that is a big part of it, is believing that this team has a chance and I believe that I can help, given who I am today, I can bring a lot of value.”
(And what about your relationship with Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver and understanding of this defense, how much was that a selling point for Miami?) – “Huge. Huge, because I definitely had quite a few teams interested. I feel like the main reason why I wanted to come here was because I really believe in who (Defensive Coordinator) Anthony Weaver is as a coach and in our relationship. We talked a lot during the process and just knowing that he knows what I’m capable of doing. He understands my mind and how I see the game, and he trusts me. At this point in time in my career, every time you build relationships, you have to kind of reestablish trust. You have new people that you’re interacting with. They’ve got to kind of get to know you, who you are. Now because of my pedigree and how long I’ve been in the league, it happens usually fast, but with somebody like ‘Coach Weave’ (Anthony Weaver), he knows I’m never going to try to hurt the team. I’m always going to be in position to try to do what’s best for the team, but I take calculated risks sometimes and play with different technique sometimes, but everything is calculated. So we had those conversations when we were working together in Baltimore of like, ‘This is how I want to play it this week.’ It was never like some spur-of-the-moment, just do what you feel. Every once in a while, you trust your instincts or whatever but most of the time it was calculated. It was planned. But just that belief and trust that he’s going to allow me to do the things I know are going to make me be successful and this team be successful.”
(I think it was Wink Martindale in 2020 that called you the best 5-technique in football. Do you think that is still accurate and what does it take to be an elite five-technique in this league?) – “Yeah, Coach (Don ‘Wink’) Martindale, great man. He used to always tell me, ‘When God created the football game and he created the 5-technique position, he drew you up perfectly for it,’ all the time. I feel like I can play any position, right, like I can (play) left, right, 1-technique, 2i, 3, 4i, 5. I can play all through the 9 (-technique). I can play any position – I don’t like standing up, but hand in the dirt, I can play any position on the d-line and I take great pride in doing that at a high level. I think that’s probably what makes me unique, but where I feel the strongest and best at is in that 5 (-technique). So I do think he’s right, and I still think I’m pretty dominant in that 5 (-technique), especially in the run game. He told me to set the edge, like you’re not running that ball. I take great pride in making sure that you’re not going to run the ball in my gap or towards me at all. I also feel like especially when it comes to studying the game and understanding what tendencies are, what teams can do from different formations, it allows me to be a little more aggressive and take some chances and make some plays that I’m not supposed to make as well. But the plays I’m supposed to make in a 5-technique, yes, it’s 100 percent – you’re not running or something’s got to happen. Something was off, something happened. But it’s just I take great pride in being one of the best run-stopping 5-techniques to ever play this game, and I still think I’ve got a lot of juice in the pass rush role, too, so it’s kind of a good mix. But yes, to answer your question, I still think I’m very dominant in the 5-technique.”
(Quick follow-up if I may, do you think you’ll play the shade at all here or do you think you’ll play inside much or is it largely you’re defensive end?) – “I’m going to play all over the place, yes. We haven’t really talked about like how they want to use me, but just knowing ‘Weave’ (Anthony Weaver) and his mindset, we’re going to move around a little bit in different situations. There’s a lot of different things you can do in this defense as far as packages and different ways of lining up and doing things, but yes, I’d be very surprised if I don’t play literally position on the d-line at some point in time in the season in certain gaps.”
(As a Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award winner, you’ve already demonstrated an exceptional commitment to community service and philanthropy. How do you plan to leverage the platform by your new team which is renowned for its philanthropic efforts and to further enhance your impact to see your community initiatives?) – “Usually you go to a new team, you’ve got to kind of learn the city, learn all the markets and stuff so it’s hard to kind of just get established right away in doing something in the community because you’ve got to learn like, who to help and where at. But because I’m in a city that I know (and) I’m so familiar with, I definitely plan to do a lot. I’ve already been talking – I mean I just signed and I’ve already been talking. (laughter) When this process was going about, about what team I could go towards and I decided to come here, that was part of the process, was knowing that I could do a lot of stuff in the community here. I already have a lot of connections and know a lot of places. I’ve already done so many things so definitely something I’m looking forward to doing, trying to help the community any way I can and just being a good beacon in the community to help just grow as a whole. So I take great pride in the Walter Payton Man of the Year award. That’s something that it’s probably my most prized possession from sports and I’m trying to live up to that name and live up to the people who have come before me and the people to come after. I definitely take great pride in that and I want to do a lot in the community.”
(Follow-up, as you continue your Hall of Fame-caliber career, what excites you the most about your quest for your first championship?) – “Honestly, I feel like I don’t really try to fall in love with the result, I just go through the process. So my mindset is I can’t control at the end of the year if I’m going to be a champion or not, but I can prepare like a champion. I can work like a champion, I can lead like a champion, I can definitely be a guy that is championship-worthy. And so my mindset is come to work every day, prepare every day as a guy that is worthy enough to be a champion. So if I do that, then I can live with myself – whatever happens, happens. But I definitely think that the opportunity is here and so when you have opportunity, now it comes down to just putting the work in and whatever happens, happens, but I can definitely live with the grind. I’m hoping that when it’s all said and done, we’ve got a chance, but the biggest thing is just get to playoffs, and that’s winning the division, but it’s a lot of football that has to happen. A lot of good football that has to happen to put yourself in position, but a lot of that starts with just the way you prepare and the way you go through the process. So I’m excited about the opportunity, though.”
(What is it about the Baltimore style defense that you really like and that makes it successful?) – “I think one of the things that makes it successful is just the amount of things you can do from it. Different blitz packages you can run, different people you can line up at different places, it just has a variety. You do ask a lot of the players – they ask more of the players because you have to know a lot more. There are some playbooks out there that are very small. But they do a good job as coaches of not overdoing it with trying to do everything at once. Game plan wise, you go into a game plan with whatever five or six things that you’re going to do for the main part, and then you have your bread and butters, of course, that you can always go to. But then the next week, you might have your complete – you might look the exact same, but you’re doing completely different things and it makes it hard on opposing offenses. When you have a veteran group that can pick up more of the playbook and you can put a little bit more in there, then you get real scary. (laughter) But I think the best part about the defense though is that you can make everything look the same and do completely different things from a blitz standpoint, and then you can put pressure on guys and make them think you’re blitzing. There’s time where we’re only rushing four, but the whole line is sliding because of looks that we did in the past, and you’ve got guys on the edge getting free sacks and stuff. Just like the variety of different things you can do up front with twists games and different things you can do in the same blitzes but adding different patterns to change things up, so it’s just the variety that makes it special.”
(A quick follow-up if I may, totally unrelated. What in your career so far are you most proud of?) – “Well the Walter Payton Man of the Year is my No. 1 thing from the overall standpoint, but honestly, if you just go past that into my actual playing on the field, I think the other thing I’m most proud of is just helping young guys reach their full potential. Seeing some guys like Justin Madubuike get a big deal, Josh Allen getting a big deal, there are guys even before from years that I helped kind of develop. It’s just – I take a lot of pride in sharing knowledge. Playing so long, you accumulate so much information and I’m a firm believer that it shouldn’t die with you it – share it. So I try to share as much information as possible with the young guys, help them to reach their full potential, and when they go and get these big contracts, that’s a good feeling. It’s like, ‘Man…’ I mean, they might have went and did it with or without me, I’m never going to try to take credit for something they did. They worked hard and did the work, but it does feel good knowing that I gave them all the knowledge I could and tried to help them develop. People always say, ‘Did you want to coach because of I love that kind of thing?’ It’s like, I don’t think I’ll be a coach – too time consuming. (laughter) I’ve dedicated too much time to the game playing it that I don’t know when I’m done with it if I want to go into that route, but I do like the feeling of helping people. I’m very service driven in helping the guys around me become better players and better men.”
