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Omar Kelly: The last legendary Miami Hurricane joins the Dolphins to anchor defense

Omar Kelly, Miami Herald on

Published in Football

MIAMI — Calais Campbell is the last of a dying breed.

He’s the last true Miami Hurricane from the glory days when the Canes dominated college football, an era where opponents once cowered at the mention of The U.

He’s the only one left from that era in the early 2000’s because he has lasted 16 seasons in the NFL, and if we’re being honest he has done far more than merely hold on.

In fact, the 37-year-old is still dominant. He still barks loudly, and even bites.

“What keeps me going is the love I got for the game. I really am just a true fan,” Campbell said Tuesday. “I talked to guys who are younger and they ask why are you still doing it? Cause I love it, and I’m still good at it.”

So good that he’s still a force. It’s rare that the biggest signing of the offseason is a team’s last, an addition made in June. But that’s certainly the case for Campbell’s South Florida homecoming with the Miami Dolphins, which was made official Tuesday when he passed a physical, and he signed his contract.

 

An aged, but accomplished veteran who is still playing impactful football — 56 tackles, 6.5 sacks in 712 snaps last season for the Atlanta Falcons — wasn’t just added to patch up a defensive that was gutted by free agency and roster purging, and had its defensive line patched with the signing of five minimum salary players.

A Pro Football Hall of Fame contender, a member of the 2010’s All-Decade team who is the third-leading active sack producer, a locker room leader, a community activist was added to a Dolphins defense that lost their shepherd when Christian Wilkins left to sign a lucrative free agent deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.

A man who is intimately familiar with the new defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is here to teach his peers how to clog the trenches, set the edge and harass quarterbacks in their new defense with the hope that he can inject the secret sauce that will help the Dolphins gain the toughness needed to become Super Bowl contender.

“I haven’t had a chance to play in that big game since my rookie year,” Campbell said, referring to when the Arizona Cardinals lost 27-23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 43 in 2009. “Coming to a team like this I feel like there is an opportunity here.

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