Calais Campbell will turn 38 a week before he makes his regular season debut with the Miami Dolphins.
While he was productive with the Atlanta Falcons in 2023, Father Time comes from everyone. So how long can Campbell continue to be a reliable player as he inches closer to 40?
“Every time I step on the field, I’ve got to prove it to my teammates, I’ve got to prove it to myself, I’ve got to prove it to everybody that I can go out there and still be a force to be reckoned with,” Campbell told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t care who you are, there is a little doubt that comes in like, ‘Can I still do it at a high level? Can I still be that guy?’ And I know I can be.”
Campbell started all 17 games during his only season with the Falcons and recorded 6.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, and 17 quarterback hits. He was on the field for 712 defensive snaps — his most since 2019 — as well as 140 special teams snaps.
Can he be expected to play that much in Miami’s defense too? Campbell thinks it’d be no problem.
“I think we have to kind of talk through what the actual full plan is right now,” Campbell said. “But I can definitely play 600 plays, in my opinion, and go out there and give you quality ball for pretty much all of them.”
Last season, defensive linemen Christian Wilkins and Zach Sieler played 894 and 856 defensive snaps, respectively. No other lineman on the Dolphins played more than 500 snaps.
Following the departures of Wilkins and defensive tackle Raekwon Davis, the Dolphins have loaded up on lineman, adding Campbell, Teair Tart, Jonathan Harris, Neville Gallimore, and Benito Jones to the roster.
