Calais Campbell Slams Door on Trade Buzz

"I came here. I want to be here, and I want this team to go out there and make a run and go fight for it," Campbell said in the Cardinals' locker room after practice on Thursday.

"So I didn't even think about that [leaving Arizona]. You know, it doesn't exist to me. All that exists to me is this team getting back into the fight. Fight with everything we have to get back into it."

Campbell, initially drafted by the Cardinals back in 2008, came home to the desert on a one-year deal in free agency with both sides vocally united on one front: This wasn't just a homecoming or a veteran presence in a young defensive line room.

Campbell still had some gas left in the tank.

That's been quite evident in Campbell's play, as the 39-year-old has three sacks, 19 tackles and one pass defensed on 48% of snaps played in Arizona's defense.

He's been Arizona's best defensive lineman, and quite frankly it hasn't been close.

This isn't Calais Campbell's First Rodeo

Previously, we shut down buzz on Campbell's potential departure and why it didn't make sense unless the veteran himself requested it.

This also isn't Campbell's first time being linked in trade rumors.

Just last season while he was with the Miami Dolphins, it was reported the San Francisco 49ers had a considerable trade offer on the table for Campbell before it collapsed.

Even with the Cardinals on a five-game slide, Campbell doesn't want to leave.

"I don't expect it to come up. I expect us to win ball games and be in position [for a playoff spot]," said Campbell. "So I think as long as we handle our business, we don't got to worry about any of that."

Campbell admitted that while, "Online stuff pops up sometimes" he doesn't pay any attention to the rumor mill.

Earlier today, Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon was asked about trade discussions ahead of next Tuesday's deadline:

“We talk every day about it. That's kind of him [GM Monti Ossenfort], but we talk about our team and all of our players every day.”

Surely contending teams are poking around the possibility of adding Campbell - but Campbell's earned the right to disctate his future in any direction he so chooses.

When flat-out asked if it was a badge of honor to be playing well enough at his age and still be connected to trade rumors, he immediately let out a "No!" with a hearty laugh that followed.

Welp. That settles that.

Calais Campbell will continue in Cardinal red through the end of the season.

Latest Arizona Cardinals News