{"id":862998,"date":"2026-08-18T22:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/862998\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T22:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T22:08:11","slug":"baltimore-ravens-defensive-lineman-calais-campbell-says-football-brings-him-joy-amid-family-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/862998\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Calais Campbell says football brings him joy amid family tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) \u2014 NFL veteran Calais Campbell<\/a> knew he wanted to keep playing, even after a family tragedy this summer resulting in his mother\u2019s death and his brother being charged with murder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the game of football a lot \u2026 it brings me joy,\u201d the 39-year-old Baltimore Ravens<\/a> defensive lineman said Tuesday in his first public remarks since his mother\u2019s death. \u201cIt was a little harder training, but as far as football goes, I love this game a lot. And this is a very fun place for me to be. So playing football has been great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ravens signed the six-time Pro Bowler in April to a one-year deal for his 19th NFL season.<\/p>\n

In late June, police found his 71-year-old mother dead at her home in Atlanta during a welfare check. Her 41-year-old son Ciarre Campbell was charged with murder after he was found with a knife, according to arrest warrants. The family told police that Ciarre struggles with mental illness.<\/p>\n

The Ravens permitted Calais Campbell<\/a> to miss the first few full-team practices of training camp. He participated in his first team session on Aug. 3, five days after the Ravens opened full-team camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese last couple months have been pretty tough for me and my family, but we\u2019re working through it,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cAnd I really appreciate all the love and support and the prayers that have been coming from all over, really, from all the NFL community. \u2026 Continue praying for us because we need it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell, who will turn 40 on Sept. 1, previously played in Baltimore from 2020-2022, making his sixth and final Pro Bowl during his first season with the Ravens.<\/p>\n

He returns to an organization with a different look, including first-year head coach Jesse Minter and a mostly new coaching staff.<\/p>\n

\u201c(He) brings great versatility along the D-line, is an unbelievable leader and mentor in that room and in the defensive room and with the team,\u201d Minter said of Campbell, who has 117 career sacks in 278 NFL games, including 259 starts. \u201cThe timing of it obviously was really tough for him and his family. We allowed the first week or two of camp for him to really kind of work himself to get ready, as it affected his summer preparation, obviously. \u2026 I\u2019m really happy that we have him.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full NFL coverage here <\/p>\n

Ian Nicholas Quillen, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) \u2014 NFL veteran Calais Campbell knew he wanted to keep playing, even after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":862999,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,77,514,82],"class_list":["post-862998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-international","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}