Former Dolphin Hints at Retirement Following 2025 Campaign

Former Dolphin Hints at Retirement Following 2025 Campaign

Defensive end Calais Campbell‘s NFL career is still going strong after he signed a one-year deal to return to the Arizona Cardinals in the offseason. Campbell spent the opening nine seasons of his NFL career as a Cardinal and earned two Pro Bowl appearances in that time.

However, Campbell recently hinted that he could retire from the league after the coming 2025 NFL campaign. He said that he has “no thoughts at all about playing football again after this year.”

“I have no thoughts at all about playing football again after this year,” Campbell said. “I’m giving everything I got to this season. There ain’t no tomorrow. I don’t even know if tomorrow exists. All I got is right now.”

Campbell is gearing up to start his second stint with the Cardinals, not long after he was a pivotal member of the Miami Dolphins’ defensive unit in the 2024 season. He was the oldest player on the Dolphins a season ago, yet he didn’t let his age stop him from being one of the team’s best players on that end.

The 38-year-old totaled 52 total tackles, 35 solo tackles, 12 tackles for loss, and 12 quarterback hits across 17 starts a season ago. He ended up with the second-most tackles for loss of any player on the team behind only Zach Sieler. Not only that, but he finished in a tie for the third-most sacks of any Dolphin with five.

With the season that Campbell put together under defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that The Miami Herald‘s Barry Jackson reported back in March that the Dolphins wanted to keep the veteran in the fold. But Campbell ultimately lasted just one season in Miami.

Hopefully, Campbell will be able to experience more playoff success with the Cardinals this season than he did in his cup of coffee in Miami. Campbell is still seeking his first Super Bowl ring, and unfortunately, the Dolphins didn’t so much as qualify for the playoffs a season ago. If the 2025 season is indeed his last in the NFL, it would be great to see him ride off into the sunset with a championship.