Pro Football Focus recently wrapped up its top 101 players and the Arizona Cardinals ended up with two. We already knew about left tackle Jared Veldheer, who sneaked into the list for the first time, coming in at No. 100.
PFF revealed the other Cardinals player. We knew it would be defensive end Calais Campbell, but we didn't know what rank he would end up. Now we know. He cracks the Top 30, coming in at No. 26.
There was a time when Campbell was all pass rush and little else. Not anymore. He's a truly complete defender who needs to be accounted for on each and every down, grading positively against both the run and pass once again in significant fashion. A real knack for making plays and graded negatively only twice all year.
Best Performance: Week 2, ARZ @ NYG, +5.7
Key Stat: His 12% Run Stop Percentage score was best of all 3-4 defensive ends.
Cardinals fans are well aware of how good Campbell is. He finally made the Pro Bowl this past season. He is arguably the most important piece of the Cardinals defense and there isn't a thing he doesn't do well at his position. The crazy thing is he hasn't even reached his full potential. Playing 3-4 end is not a position built for big stats, but if he doesn't just miss on a few sacks, he could pull off 12-15 sacks in a year and 70-80 tackles. That's insane from his position.
Campbell actually ranks just ahead of Tom Brady, Cameron Wake and Darrelle Revis. He is just behind Ndamukong Suh and Muhammad Wilkerson.
Is this about where he should be ranked?