Omar Kelly: Does Calais Campbell still have what it takes to anchor Miami's defensive line?

Calais Campbell slowly got in his three-point stance for one of maybe 2,000-plus football practices he has participated in during his 17-year NFL career and labored to raise all 6-foot-8, 308 pound frame so much you would think he was moving in slow motion.

This was 20 minutes into the Miami Dolphins’ first training camp practice of the 2024 seasons, so maybe this will go down as the overreaction of all overreactions, but the former University of Miami standout looked mature, aged, vintage, and it made me wonder if he can really be counted on to anchor the Dolphins’ free agency depleted defensive line.

Hell, after his first practice, the 37-year-old openly wondered about it himself.

“I don’t care who you are. There is a little doubt that [creeps] in. Can I still do it at a high level?” Campbell said shortly after practice Wednesday’s morning practice. “Can I still be that guy? I know I can be.”

Let’s hope so because the Dolphins not only need his forceful presence on the defensive front, but his leadership in the locker room to ease this offseason’s departure of Christian Wilkins, who signed a four-year, $110 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Miami replaced Wilkins and Raekwon Davis, who signed with the Indianapolis Colts, with a hodgepodge of NFL journeymen before adding Campbell the week after minicamp wrapped. Dolphins management clearly saw what I saw during those practice sessions, which is that they didn’t have before beef on the defensive line.

And Campbell decided to stave off retirement one more season because he’s still writing the final chapter of what many believe to be a Hall of Fame worthy NFL career.

Campbell knows the end of his accomplished career is around the corner, and he would love to seal it with a Super Bowl championship, providing the finishing touches to a career that is certainly Canton worthy.

“I do have those aspirations, and winning the Super Bowl will be monumental for that. I believe this team has the capabilities of winning the Super Bowl,” Campbell said of the Dolphins, whom he signed a one-year deal worth $2 million to join.

“It’s going to be tough. The AFC is a gauntlet. A lot of talented teams that want it just as bad as we do,” Campbell continued. “We have to have that mindset and go and take it from them. It’s not going to be an easy route. But we have a group of guys that are capable. We just have to do it when time counts. Right now we’re building the foundation.”

The fact that this former University of Miami standout is still playing in the NFL is a miracle in itself, especially since the position he plays is one of the most physically demanding spots in all of professional sports.

But Miami’s going to need more than forceful edge setting, and occasional pressure on quarterbacks from Campbell, who has been a leader on every football team he’s been a member of.

The Dolphins need Campbell to provide a leadership presence, filling the void created by Wilkins departure since he was the alpha male of last year’s team, the tone setter on and off the field.

Campbell has filled that role in the past for other organizations, and that’s part of the reason defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, who was with him in Baltimore for three seasons (2020-22), advocated for Miami to sign this member of the 2010’s NFL All-Decade Team.

Campbell, whose 105.5 sacks rank third in sack production from active NFL players, behind Buffalo Von Miller (123.5) and New Orleans’ Cameron Jordan (117.5), decided to continue playing because he felt he still had plenty left in the tank.

“I’ve always watched him and respected his game throughout my whole career. I mean, he makes me feel tiny,” said fellow defensive lineman Zach Sieler, who is 6-foot-6, 300 pounds. “He’s a big human being in the best sense.

“I’ve tried to emulate his play style throughout my career so far,” Sieler continued, referring to Campbell, whom many coaches have use to teach players edge-setting technique when it comes to how to play the five-technique in a 3-4 scheme. “So it’s cool to learn from him this year and get him down here, play beside him.”

Let’s hope the old man’s pacing himself, and will become a forceful front line presence when the pads come on, an the action is live because Miami’s defensive front, which must overcome Shaquil Barrett’s surprising retirement, and three edge rushers being on the PUP to start camp, desperately needs someone they can lean on outside of Sieler.

“Every time you come on this field you have to prove it. If you are going off your history then you should retire. Every time I step on the field I have to prove it to my teammates and to myself that I can go out there and be a force to be reckoned with,” said Campbell, who has started 225 NFL regular season games. “Today was the first day of camp. I’m not going to go out there and be the best player on the field, by any means. Especially the way I prepare and go through things. But within a few weeks it should definitely show.”

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