'That is the OG, triple OG': How Dolphins' Calais Campbell continues to be going sturdy in 12 months 17

MIAMI — Three days earlier than the Miami Dolphins‘ 2024 season opener, a media scrum gathered round offensive lineman Terron Armstead. He fielded questions on sleep monitoring and cargo administration, laughing off a comparability to the NBA, the place gamers typically take nights off to mitigate a nagging harm.

He was requested if the apply would discover its method to the NFL.

“No, that might by no means occur,” he stated. “By no means, by no means.”

He was then requested about teammate Calais Campbell — the oldest lively lineman within the NFL on both facet of the ball — and whether or not there are any similarities between how they put together their our bodies for sport day.

A large grin broke out throughout the 33-year-old’s face.

“Hear, I am not in Calais’ — he is in one other tier of veteran. I’m not there,” Armstead stated. “No matter he do, that is what he do. What I do is what I do. He’s in his personal world. That is the OG, triple OG.”

It is true. In his twelfth NFL season, Armstead was a junior at Cahokia Excessive College in Illinois when Campbell was drafted fiftieth total by the Arizona Cardinals after three seasons on the College of Miami in 2008.

Campbell, now 38 and taking part in in his seventeenth NFL season, signed with the Dolphins this offseason. However as Miami prepares to host the Tennessee Titans on Monday evening (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), Campbell’s love for the sport and manufacturing has been a silver lining for a crew in want of 1. He has made probably the most of his time on the sphere, regardless of taking part in the second-lowest proportion of defensive snaps of his profession. Campbell leads the crew in sacks, passes defended and tackles for a loss.

The typical NFL profession spans 3.3 years, in accordance with the NFL gamers’ affiliation. Campbell has matched that 5 occasions over, taking part in 247 of a doable 261 common season video games in his profession. He has performed extra video games than any lively participant aside from Cardinals kicker Matt Prater and Bears tight finish Marcedes Lewis, and has performed the fourth-most video games of any defensive lineman in NFL historical past.

Campbell says he has mulled retirement for the previous 4 seasons or so. He has put vital effort into his preparation so, if he determined to retire, he would achieve this realizing he gave it every thing he had.

The retirement issues by no means final lengthy. Campbell loves the sport and continues to be taking part in at a excessive stage.

It is powerful to stroll away from that.

“If I ever really feel like my play is dropping, I can not be that man, I can not nonetheless ship in massive moments, then it might be time to hold it up,” Campbell stated. “However as of proper now, I felt like in the direction of the top of final yr I used to be taking part in the very best ball of the season.”

CAMPBELL RECORDED A sack on Miami’s first defensive snap of the season, monitoring and tackling Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence for a 13-yard loss. It was the 106th sack of his profession.

On the following play, the 6-foot-8, 307-pound lineman shot into a niche within the Jags’ line and introduced down operating again Travis Etienne for a 1-yard loss.

It was an thrilling begin to a day that had been something however for Campbell and the Dolphins.

Hours earlier than the sport kicked off, vast receiver Tyreek Hill was pulled over just outside the Hard Rock Stadium grounds for speeding, and finally put in handcuffs after failing to conform when an officer requested him to roll down his window.

Campbell was driving by and pulled over. After being instructed to again away from the scenario, Miami-Dade Police Division officer Danny Torres put him in handcuffs and threatened to arrest him. The altercation was recorded by passersby and went viral on social media.

Torres, who additionally dragged Hill out of his automotive and handcuffed him, was placed on administrative duties inside hours of the incident — one thing Campbell stated was “very a lot the way in which it ought to go.”

It was an unexpected situation for a participant who is thought for his character, successful the Walter Payton Man of the 12 months award in 2019 — an annual award, the NFL says, given to a participant who has had “a big optimistic influence on the group.”

Campbell did not wish to dwell on the scenario when talking to reporters after the sport. He stated he stopped on the scene to attempt to de-escalate what he believed was “extreme drive” by the officers concerned.

He stated his dominant begin to the sport was not associated to the occasions main as much as it.

“It had nothing to do with that scenario,” Campbell stated. “I instructed the fellows … my objective was to set the tone, set the tone for the entire season. Being 38 years outdated, I do not know the way a lot I acquired within the tank. I used to be simply going on the market giving every thing I had. However I knew early within the sport I might make a distinction.

“It is a good feeling. Undoubtedly the questions you’ve got whenever you go right into a season — 12 months 17, it is like, can I nonetheless dominate? Can I nonetheless take a full ballgame? And it felt fairly good to have the ability to make some massive performs to get the sport going.”

His unwillingness to go away his teammate in a delicate scenario resonated inside the Dolphins’ constructing. It is an offshoot of the character Campbell, who was voted a captain in his first yr in Miami, has displayed since becoming a member of the crew.

Coach Mike McDaniel was unnerved by the detention of Hill and Campbell however was happy with how his crew caught collectively within the second.

“It is what you hope your crew is comprised of,” McDaniel stated. “Conditions that you would be able to’t plan for typically provide the greatest window into the place your crew is at. I am very proud that they see one another as teammates and maintain that in regard the way in which they do. You spend as a lot time, you might be so interwoven into the story of their lives that you just hope that teammates perceive that we’re prolonged household.

“I used to be very completely happy {that a} man in a scenario like that did not really feel alone.”

THE OLDEST DEFENSIVE lineman to play within the NFL is Jim Marshall, who, at 42 years outdated, performed 16 video games for the Minnesota Vikings in 1970. Campbell is not essentially chasing that document.

Campbell recorded 56.5 sacks in his first 9 seasons with the Cardinals, earlier than exploding with the Jaguars, recording 31.5 sacks from 2017 to 2019. His manufacturing tailed off in his three seasons with the Ravens, totaling 11 sacks from 2020 to 2022, however he responded with 6.5 sacks in his lone season with the Falcons in 2024.

Campbell says there is no such thing as a particular secret to his longevity. He says it merely begins with understanding the human physique.

“Man, I’ve completed so many alternative issues,” he stated. “… I really feel like I turned a biologist by way of understanding the physique rather a lot higher. That is turn out to be an enormous a part of what I do, and it is labored up to now. Hopefully it really works for another yr.”

Campbell has seen an elevated curiosity in gamers caring for their our bodies over the previous 10 years or so. He expects to see a big variety of them taking part in “dominant soccer” effectively into their 30s.

“After I first acquired to the league, it was a complete completely different mindset. It is loopy to consider the modifications,” he stated. “It is 16 or 17 years, I do not assume that info was simply accessible again then. Loads of guys, their mindset — even the quantity of performs you performed was completely different.

“I’ve had so many guys ask me my routine, my plan and the issues I’ve tried. I am all the time an open ebook, I all the time share my data.”

Falcons linebacker Arnold Ebiketie stated he steadily “shadowed” Campbell throughout his pregame routine final season and tries to implement Campbell’s routine to this present day — together with an elevated concentrate on hydration. Ebikietie stated Campbell would usually drink at the very least six giant bottles of water every day.

Miami offensive lineman Kendall Lamm stated Campbell takes care of his physique always.

“Even the times that he will get veteran relaxation, he is in there stretching, he is in there doing sure issues. He is contrasting, he is within the pool working,” Lamm stated. “Folks do not perceive. They assume that after we’re within the constructing, this s— needs to be turned on. No, no, no, no, no. If you wish to do it for a very long time, you bought to do it when no eyes are on you.”

McDaniel stated the way in which Campbell works and prepares has an influence on his teammates.

“His teammates which are 15 years youthful than him have a tough time not ending a drill, ending a play, straining and having exuberance to come back to work on daily basis once they’re watching him try this,” McDaniel stated.

“I knew that he is an absolute freak by way of with the ability to play that place for that lengthy at such a excessive stage. I did not essentially actually assume by means of the pure affect that on a day-to-day foundation … I believe he was in school when the iPod got here out. That is fairly superb that he is now executing jobs that guys have been barely alive when he began executing that job and he is doing it alongside them.”