A day after the Ravens’ gut-wrenching 24-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in a first-round playoff game, defensive end Calais Campbell said he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to return for a 16th NFL season, but he stressed that quarterback Lamar Jackson should be back with the team regardless.
Campbell, who turns 37 in September, contemplated retirement last season but opted to return and signed a two-year, $12.5 million deal to remain with the Ravens. At the time, Campbell made clear that playing on a team with realistic Super Bowl hopes was a primary consideration.
The Ravens fell short of that goal, and now Campbell again must weigh whether he wants to return, and the Ravens must weigh whether they can afford to bring him back.
Campbell carries a cap hit of $8.9 million this coming year, and the team would free up $6.5 million in cap space if he retires or is released.
As players cleaned out their lockers, exchanged autographed memorabilia and prepared to part ways for a few months — or in some cases, much longer — Campbell said it was too soon for him to decide what might come next.
“I don’t think it would be wise to decide so quickly,” Campbell said. “I think you have to go through a process. So I’m going to give myself a few weeks to go through that process and decide after that. … It’s going to be hard to walk away, that’s for sure. So we’ll see.
“I’ll talk to the front office and talk to the coaches and I’ll think. There’s a chance I could be back here again next year. I just have to go through that process.”
Campbell finished the year with 36 tackles and 5.5 sacks, tied for second-most on the team, in 14 games. He has also been heralded as a mentor for younger defensive linemen such as Justin Madubuike, Broderick Washington and Travis Jones.
Campbell has 99 career sacks, and he said he’d “be lying” if he wasn’t thinking about No. 100.
“I had plenty of opportunities to get it this year and didn’t get it done,” he said, adding that the milestone is “something I really want. At the end of the day, what’s meant to be will be.”
That also could apply to Jackson’s future, a predictably hot topic as the Ravens cleaned out their lockers.
Jackson is set to become a free agent in March, though the Ravens could apply the franchise tag to keep him off the open market if the two sides don’t work out a long-term extension.
In August, both Jackson and general manager Eric DeCosta announced they were shelving contract talks until after the season, but with the loss to Cincinnati, that moment has arrived.
Whether Campbell returns, he made clear he would like to see Jackson back.
“You can’t let a guy like him go,” Campbell said. “I know it’s football, and there’s always some new exciting toy, a new, exciting kid that has the potential to go out there and be great, but this is a for-sure, a known. You know Lamar Jackson is an incredible player. I think it’s in the best interests of the Ravens organization to give him a long-term contract and make him our guy. I know the front office is feeling the same thing.”
“Lamar Jackson is a star,” Campbell continued. “He deserves to be paid like it and deserves the opportunity to lead his team to hopefully multiple championships. As long as he’s on the field, you know your team has a chance.”
The Ravens finished 10-7 this season, but Jackson missed the final five regular-season games and the postseason loss at Cincinnati because of a knee injury that lingered longer than expected.
Campbell said the Ravens’ cloudy quarterback situation would not affect his decision-making as much as family considerations and whether he thought he could endure the physical and mental toll to play at a high level again, but he also made clear, as he did last year, that being able to compete for a Super Bowl title would be a major factor.
Campbell made his only Super Bowl as a rookie when his Arizona Cardinals lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers after the 2008 season.
“I want to have a chance to win it all,” Campbell said. “That definitely is a big part of it. I think Lamar gives this team the best chance to win it all, but the front office knows that, too. It’s not like I’m saying anything news-breaking or anything. He’s a special talent.”
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