Calais Campbell met with the media Monday, and when he was asked what his role is going to be with the Falcons he responded with a succinct answer.
“Honestly, one of the other things I liked about Atlanta is because they said my role would be playing true D-End," said Campbell. "You know playing on the edge on first and second down, which was very appealing.”
The Pro-Bowler, Walter Payton Man of the Year, and future Hall of Famer also went expanded.
“They didn’t say Cam Jordan," Campbell said. "But based off the defense with Ryan Neilsen, you know it looked like that Cam Jordan kind of role, and it was very appealing to me.”
The Morning Shift reacted to this earlier today, and gave their thoughts on Campbell’s role with the Falcons.
Campbell being able to play true defensive end with the Falcons is what really has Mike Johnson excited.
“When you look at him playing true defensive end like I said a minute ago, all of sudden he’s on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackle," said the former Falcons lineman. "He’s lining up against these tight ends, he’s doing the grunt work, and he becomes and edge rusher.
“I think you have to stunt with him, he’s not gonna have the speed that you look at when you look at possible guys in the draft or Lorenzo Carter, he doesn’t have that explosion.”
Mike finishes his thought... “When I look at him and talk about true defensive end and creating that violence and the stunts that you’ll have up front with Ryan Nielsen at defensive coordinator. It’s just, it’s extremely exciting, and I'm ready to kind of see this all develop.”
Beau Morgan is excited about Campbell being so forthcoming, understanding, and excited about his role on the team.
“It’s so rare to me that when we sign a guy or we see a guy sign somewhere and is basically his opening media scrum press conference he goes 'yeah, this is how i’m going to be used,'" said Morgan. "This, this, and it just shows you that they had to sell him on his usage here and they trust him to come in and do the things they want.”
In his first media availability yesterday with the Atlanta Falcons, Campbell also talked about how he feels like he has a lot of miles left, and that he expects to perform and win here in Atlanta. If there is anything you need to take away from what Campbell told the media it’s that his role is way more than to just be a leader, it’s to perform and sack the quarterback as a true defensive end as well.