It’s a new day on the Arizona Cardinals defensive line with Calais Campbell

ASFN Admin

Administrator
Administrator
Moderator
Supporting Member
Joined
May 8, 2002
Posts
401,192
Reaction score
43
It will be a crowded defensive line room when the Arizona Cardinals convene for the beginning of the offseason program later this month.

The addition of Calais Campbell this week on a reported one-year, $5.5 million contract with $2 million in possible incentives assures that there will be significant competition for spots, especially if everyone stays healthy.

Gone from the room are three players that combined to play 41 games with 17 starts in 2024: Roy Lopez (16/16), Khyiris Tonga (13/1) and Naquan Jones (12/0). Lopez is with the Detroit Lions, Tonga with the New England Patriots and Jones with the Los Angeles Chargers.

They also combined for 901 defensive snaps: Lopez 467 (46 percent), Jones 260 (34 percent) and Tonga (229 (27 percent). The percentages are only for those games in which they played.

Campbell and Dalvin Tomlinson have been added since the beginning of the league year three weeks ago to join a room populated by those that played in games last season: Darius Robinson, Justin Jones, Bilal Nichols, Dante Stills, L.J. Collier and Ben Stille.

Anthony Goodlow and P.J. Mustipher were on the practice squad last season and are also currently on the roster.

The timing of the Campbell signing Tuesday was odd. There was no inkling what was about to happen when head coach Jonathan Gannon spoke to reporters early in the morning during the league meetings in Palm Beach, Fla.

There was also a Miami Herald report that morning in which Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel said the team wanted him back while it was also mentioned he had an offer from the Baltimore Ravens.

Said McDaniel, “Calais, specifically, is in a unique situation where he’s assessing multiple options. There’s a lot in play in that, in regard to, your play is high, you’re excited to play another year. He’s assessing those options, and he was a very important player to the team last year. I see him having the opportunity to be a very important player on the team this year.”

So much for that.

Meanwhile, discussing the impact of Tomlinson on the group, Gannon said, "Everyone plays a little bit of a different role, everyone has a little bit different of a skillset, where they are at in their career, but Dalvin brings an element of leadership and experience. He is very smart and he'll help the younger guys grow as players."

Ditto that for Campbell.

As Gannon also noted about Tomlinson and edge rusher Josh Sweat, “All about ball, team-first guys and a lot of production. The additions of those guys, both as Cardinals stepping into the locker room and the players that they are (is important)."

Ditto again two-fold for Campbell, who will be entering his 18th NFL season and turns 39 on Sept. 1.

Both Campbell and Tomlinson played more snaps with their teams last season than any Cardinals defensive lineman.

Campbell started all 17 games with the Dolphins while playing 615 snaps (58 percent). With the Cleveland Browns, Tomlinson started the 16 games he played and participated in 610 snaps (60 percent).

The Cardinals leader last season was Collier (17/15) with 590 snaps (54 percent). Stills (16/10) was next with 534 (52 percent)

After that, it was Robinson (6/0) with 183 snaps (50 percent), Nichols (6/5) with 174 (45 percent), Justin Jones (3/3) with 100 (55 percent) and Stille (3/0) with 106 (52 percent). The first three missed 36 games because of injuries.

The largest cap hits this year are for Justin Jones and Nichols, who each signed 3-year contracts last year. Jones counts $11.33 million and includes $8 million in guaranteed compensation: $7 million salary and a $1 million roster bonus that is believed to have been already been paid.

Nichols’ cap charge is $7.815 million and includes a $5.69 million guaranteed base salary.

For those that believe one or both could be cut, if that would happen on or before June 1, the dead cap money would be higher than their current figures: $14.5 million for Jones and $9.69 million for Nichols.

If a release happened after June 1, the dead money this year would be $11.25 million for Jones and $7.69 million for Nichols.

Tomlinson has a $7.644 million cap charge with a $5 million guaranteed salary. Specifics of Campbell’s deal aren’t official, but if the $5.5 million value is accurate, his cap hit will be at that figure.

Robinson’s cap charge is $3.15 million with a guaranteed salary of $1.425 million.

Collier counts $3 million and $750,000 of his $1.945 million salary is guaranteed.

In the third year of his rookie contract, Stills has a $1.03 million salary and $1.063 million cap hit, while Stille is at $1.1 million in both salary and cap.

Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.


This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: The Arizona Cardinals' D-line is so different with Calais Campbell


Continue reading...
 
Top