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Calais Campbell #93 a potential Dallas Cowboys target.
It has been a busy offseason for the Dallas Cowboys, even if the list of the team’s transactions does not include the big names many fans had been hoping to see. The Cowboys have added six players to their defense, while trading away two defensive linemen, Osa Odighizuwa and Solomon Thomas. But Rashan Gary is on board as the team’s new featured edge rusher, and Jalen Thompson will be the top safety on the back line.
The trades of Odighizuwa and Thomas were something of a surprise, but the Cowboys felt that those players don’t have enough heft to fill in on the defensive line for new coordinator Christian Parker.
The Cowboys did add Otito Ogbonnia to add some depth up front, but they have not really replaced Odighizuwa with another player. And a perusal of the depth chart suggests that they will need to do so, and probably can’t afford to wait until the NFL draft to do so.
Cowboys Could Add Calais Campbell
To fill the role, the USA Today site Cowboys Wire has a name worth considering: veteran Calais Campbell, who is a six-time Pro Bowler bound for the Hall of Fame. Campbell is 39 and seeking to play his 18th NFL season, so he is not exactly a long-term investment for Dallas. But he still has the talent to fill the spot, and the Cowboys have too many other needs to address in the draft to leave defensive line depth to the draft.
Wrote the site: “Campbell has been signing one-year journeyman deals for the last several cycles. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Arizona Cardinals, from 2008 through 2016, then inked with Jacksonville for three years and the Ravens for another three. …The Cowboys should be knocking down his door to see if he wants to cross the border into Texas for 2026.”
Calais Campbell Can Still Play
The Cowboys will have Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams anchoring the attach up front, but they need depth. Campbell can bring that. He has bounced through three different teams (the Falcons, Dolphins and Cardinals) in the last three years, but has played all 17 games in each of those years.
Pro Football Focus graded Campbell as the No. 23 defensive lineman in the league last year, out of 127.
The Cowboys need a starting linebacker, as well as a cornerback and edge rusher in the NFL draft. They have picks No. 12 and 20, and have no second-round picks on hand. The more spots they can fill with veterans free-agents, the more freedom the Cowboys will have in the draft.
Cowboys Will Require ‘Resources’ Up Front
Last month, Parker explained that the Cowboys would be changing up front defensively–especially on the line.
“Up front, you want guys to be aggressive because you have to convert to pass-rush and everything like that,” Parker said. “So when you think about, when I was in Green Bay with (Kenny Clark), he was the best nose in football, in my opinion, at doing this style because he plays with good length and he has a good anchor.
“Quinnen Williams, this is how he played at Alabama, this is what (Nick) Saban does in the mid-front and everything else with that. You’re getting guys off the ball, it’s just how you play the blocks in the run game, restricting that space. … The resources—those teams that are really good at that front, you look at the front seven and it’s like three, four first-rounders. You gotta pay to play for that.”
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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