Calais Campbell shares secret sauce on longevity in NFL: ‘I feel like I became a biologist in terms of understanding the body’

Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Calais Campbell is in his 17th season in the NFL and first with the Dolphins, which is extremely impressive longevity for any football player.

While Campbell doesn’t believe there is one secret to his longevity, he did share some of his thoughts on how he’s had such a long and successful career.

“Man, I’ve done so many different things,” Campbell said. “… I feel like I became a biologist in terms of understanding the body a lot better. That’s become a big part of what I do, and it’s worked so far. Hopefully it works for one more year.”

Campbell shared that a lot of things have changed since he first entered the NFL in the 2008 season. The six-time Pro Bowler was a second-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in the 2008 NFL draft.

“When I first got to the league, it was a whole different mindset. It’s crazy to think about the changes,” he said. “It’s 16 or 17 years, I don’t think that information was just available back then. A lot of guys, their mindset — even the amount of plays you played was different.

“I’ve had so many guys ask me my routine, my plan and the things I’ve tried. I’m always an open book, I always share my knowledge.”

This season, Campbell has started all three of the games he’s appeared in for the Dolphins, recording seven tackles, two sacks and three tackles for loss. Even at 38 years old, he’s an insanely productive defensive player.

Campbell’s teammates, including offensive lineman Kendall Lamm, have noticed how the veteran operates to keep his body in the best shape possible.

“Even the days that he gets veteran rest, he’s in there stretching, he’s in there doing certain things. He’s contrasting, he’s in the pool working,” Lamm said. “People don’t understand. They think that when we’re in the building, this s— has to be turned on. No, no, no, no, no. If you want to do it for a long time, you got to do it when no eyes are on you.”

The Dolphins brought Campbell in this offseason to help replace the loss of defensive lineman Christian Wilkins, who signed with the Las Vegas Raiders in free agency.

The veteran has done just that, and even though the Dolphins are just 1-2 – mainly because of their injuries at quarterback – defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver is prepared to lean on Campbell as much as he can.

“You always want to make sure he’s playing in the game where you can feel he can be most impactful,” Weaver said. “Sometimes there’s a fine balance in that. You also want to do that, yet not have him sit around too long so he does start to get stiff, and that’s any veteran player. So there’s an art to it. It kind of just depends on [how] the flow of the game is going.

“But the one thing you do know is if it’s a critical situation, there’s a high likelihood that Calais Campbell is going to be in the game.”

Campbell and the Dolphins have a crucial matchup on Monday night against the Tennessee Titans, who have yet to win a game this season.

If Miami can pick up a win on Monday, it’ll be back at .500 despite all of the issues it has had to deal with on the injury front to open the season.

Campbell and the Dolphins defense will likely be relied on heavily until quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (concussion) is cleared to return to action.