Ravens defensive end Campbell plans to return for 16th NFL season

For the second straight year, Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell used Super Bowl Sunday to make an announcement regarding his football future.

As part of NFL Network’s pregame coverage for Super Bowl LVII on Sunday morning, the six-time Pro Bowl selection confirmed he plans to return for a 16th season. Campbell told reporters the day after last month’s first-round playoff loss to Cincinnati that he would take a few weeks to ponder his options, but he acknowledged it was “going to be hard to walk away” from the game, especially being only one sack shy of 100 for his career. The veteran announced his plans to return for 2022 while part of Sky Sports’ Super Bowl coverage broadcasted in the United Kingdom last year.

The question now becomes whether Campbell will remain with Baltimore for the 2023 season. Though still under contract and playing at a high level with 5 1/2 sacks — his most in three years with the Ravens — and 36 tackles in 14 games this past season, the 6-foot-8, 307-pound defensive lineman will turn 37 in September and is scheduled to carry a $9.44 million salary cap number next season, which includes $7 million in scheduled salary and bonuses. It’s no secret Baltimore is projected to be very tight against the cap with star quarterback Lamar Jackson’s long-term contract status unresolved and an expensive franchise tag looming, and releasing Campbell would create $7 million in cap space.

While general manager Eric DeCosta could approach Campbell about a restructure or short-term extension to reduce his cap number, Jackson’s status figures to be a significant factor one way or another for a veteran still chasing his first Super Bowl championship.

“I want to have a chance to win it all. That definitely is a big part of it,” Campbell said last month. “I think that 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.”

In addition to being one of the NFL’s best defensive linemen of the last 20 years, Campbell is highly respected off the field, winning the 2022 Art Rooney Sportsmanship Award last week and being named the Walter Payton Man of the Year for the 2019 season. Should the Ravens move on from Campbell this offseason, his leadership in the locker room would certainly be missed. Despite being among the NFL’s oldest players, Campbell remained Baltimore’s best defensive lineman in 2022 as Pro Football Focus graded him 15th among 127 qualified interior defensive linemen this past season.

A 2008 second-round pick out of Miami, Campbell spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Arizona Cardinals and played three years with Jacksonville before the Ravens acquired him in a 2020 trade.