Ravens: Calais Campbell named most overpaid player on the team

The Baltimore Ravens have a well-structured roster with few glaring weaknesses and/or financial mistakes. However, one player who might be a little overpaid is defensive lineman Calais Campbell.

Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox recently released an article detailing the most overpaid player on each NFL team. And he chose Campbell as the Ravens’ representative.

Knox did make sure to praise general manager Eric DeCosta and insist that Baltimore has very few bad contracts on their roster. Overpaying players has never been DeCosta’s style.

However, it is fair to say that Campbell’s salary no longer matches his production.

Calais Campbell is the most overpaid player on the Ravens roster.

Knox explained his decision with the following justification.

"“Campbell is still a productive contributor — he was a Pro Bowler in 2020 — but he is no longer an elite defensive end. His last double-digit-sack season came in 2018, and he was far less effective off the edge this past season.in 2020, Campbell had only four sacks and 13 quarterback pressures. That level of production doesn’t justify a $12.5 million annual salary. It’s fair to wonder if his Pro Bowl nod was largely based on name recognition.”"

As Knox notes, Campbell remains a rock-solid starting defensive lineman and even made the Pro Bowl a year ago — although his selection was likely more due to his name value than anything else.

The Ravens acquired Campbell in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars in March of 2020 and the six-time Pro Bowler would go on to start 12 games with Baltimore.

He finished with four sacks, 28 tackles, five tackles for loss, and 10 QB hits while earning a very respecatble 74.7 Pro Football Focus grade that ranked 27th out of all interior defensive linemen in the NFL.

That grade was also good for second on the Ravens’ defense, behind just superstar cornerback Marlon Humphrey. Campbell is still a good player, but he’s just not worth what he’s getting paid.

The soon-to-be 35-year-old will carry a cap hit of $13 million into the 2021 season. Only Ronnie Stanley is scheduled to have a larger cap hit.

On the last year of his deal this season, Campbell’s future both in Baltimore and the NFL remain up in the air. The 14-year veteran is taking things one step at a time and plans to reevaluate his future after the upcoming season.

Calais Campbell remains an important part of the Ravens’ defense. And if he can help the team compete in 2021, it’s likely few will care about his high salary.

Nonetheless, it is fair to say that his value doesn’t match his cap hit at this stage.