OT: Calais Campbell: I’m leaning toward playing again

QuebecCard

ASFN Addict
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Posts
5,880
Reaction score
8,310
Location
North of the 49th.
I thought letting Campbell leave was one of the biggest blunders ever during the Keim era. Campbell would have been worth every penny paid to him. People talked about the intangibles JJ Watt brought to the table and why he was worth the money paid to him. Campbell would have brought just as many of those intangibles.

RAISE your hand posters who wanted the CARDS to match the contract Campbell received WHEN HE LEFT?
 

CardNots

ASFN Lifer
Joined
Sep 12, 2002
Posts
4,942
Reaction score
5,410
Location
Jenks, Oklahoma
No, you mentioned that letting him go was a mistake without referencing the MASSIVE contract he received on the open market.
He wanted to stay, work it out before he hits FA. Keim didn’t want to do it as he had wasted a pick on his replacement. It was a failure of the organization at the time. We spent big on CJ and he isn’t in the league anymore. At least an investment would still be paying dividends.
 

blindseyed

I'm saying you ARE stuck in Wichita
Joined
Mar 20, 2003
Posts
7,932
Reaction score
5,618
Location
Verrado
He wanted to stay, work it out before he hits FA. Keim didn’t want to do it as he had wasted a pick on his replacement. It was a failure of the organization at the time. We spent big on CJ and he isn’t in the league anymore. At least an investment would still be paying dividends.
KeimTime
 

QuebecCard

ASFN Addict
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Posts
5,880
Reaction score
8,310
Location
North of the 49th.
This is a really out of context response, no one is saying to sign Campbell to a contract like he got when he left in FA.

Nor am I.

But you said you would have matched the JAGS offer to keep him.

I wondered how many were on record saying this AT THE TIME.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

I'm better than Mulli!
Joined
Sep 16, 2002
Posts
63,555
Reaction score
57,913
Location
SoCal
Least favorite pick of the Keim era.

Dude played RB for most of his career until his very last year. Moved to CB, played mediocre & Keim STILL picked him in the 3rd round when he would have easily been a 6th rounder at best lmao Jesus.
And then didn’t we open the season with him starting against the patriots?!?
 

Fitz4Ever

Veteran
Joined
Jan 13, 2023
Posts
475
Reaction score
911
Location
Idaho
RAISE your hand posters who wanted the CARDS to match the contract Campbell received WHEN HE LEFT?
I wanted them to! Calais deserved that contract...and he had been the ideal teammate and locker room leader here (including being a perennial Man of the Year nominee). He was heavily involed with promoting the team, interacting with fans, and oh by the way...he was extremely productive on the field.

If you look at his last 3 years in AZ...he was a 2 time 2nd Team All-Pro, and a 2 time Pro-bowler. He averaged ~ 55 tackles and 6.5 sacks playing DE in a 3-4 defense.

The only reason you could argue for not giving him the contract was that Calais was 30 years old...and perhaps there would be a drop off? But there had been nothing up to that point that led you to believe that would happen. He had been playing the best football of his career. He was extremely durable. He was beloved by his teammates and the community. He is also now 37 and just had another very good year for Atlanta...so clearly the drop off didnt happen.

There was FOR SURE a way we could have paid Calais what he was asking for, and still extended Jones. There were several other players who got massively overpaid that year (Grishom, Bathea) who could have been replaces far easier than Calais.
 

QuebecCard

ASFN Addict
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Posts
5,880
Reaction score
8,310
Location
North of the 49th.
I wanted them to! Calais deserved that contract...and he had been the ideal teammate and locker room leader here (including being a perennial Man of the Year nominee). He was heavily involed with promoting the team, interacting with fans, and oh by the way...he was extremely productive on the field.

If you look at his last 3 years in AZ...he was a 2 time 2nd Team All-Pro, and a 2 time Pro-bowler. He averaged ~ 55 tackles and 6.5 sacks playing DE in a 3-4 defense.

The only reason you could argue for not giving him the contract was that Calais was 30 years old...and perhaps there would be a drop off? But there had been nothing up to that point that led you to believe that would happen. He had been playing the best football of his career. He was extremely durable. He was beloved by his teammates and the community. He is also now 37 and just had another very good year for Atlanta...so clearly the drop off didnt happen.

There was FOR SURE a way we could have paid Calais what he was asking for, and still extended Jones. There were several other players who got massively overpaid that year (Grishom, Bathea) who could have been replaces far easier than Calais.

The JAGS offered 4 years $60m in 2017. Not that much for a player of his quality today under the present Cap, but sizable at the time. If I remember correctly, the Cards were in the $10m range per annum, and the consensus at the time was that this was a fair offer.
 

iLLmatiC

Drive-by Poster
Joined
Jul 4, 2004
Posts
7,550
Reaction score
5,144
Location
Gilbert, AZ
And performed at a negative level...

And then the Cardinals could have used the pick on a better player.

Aww, who am I kidding.

Outside of using the 2nd pick to get Chandler Jones (great move), that draft class was awful, even by Keim Standards.

Beside Nkemdiche who could forget:

3rd Round Pick Brandon Williams
4th Round Pick Evan Boehm
5th Round Pick Marqui Christian
5th Round Pick Cole Toner
6th Round Pick Harlan Miller

All out of the league
God, we held onto Brandon William for way too long hoping he'd becoming a starting cornerback. Talk about taking a trip down memory lane.
 

Fitz4Ever

Veteran
Joined
Jan 13, 2023
Posts
475
Reaction score
911
Location
Idaho
The JAGS offered 4 years $60m in 2017. Not that much for a player of his quality today under the present Cap, but sizable at the time. If I remember correctly, the Cards were in the $10m range per annum, and the consensus at the time was that this was a fair offer.
Yea of course is was sizeable...he was one of the best defensive lineman in the NFL. If we were at 10, and the market was at 15...then we weren't making him a fair offer. You can't say the Jags were off either, because he outperformed a 15 mil per year deal!

I wan in favor of paying him the same as the Jags, he was worth it on and off the field, but I also believe that if we had upped our offer to say 12.5 he would have chosen to sign with us.
 
Top