When Calais Campbell started doing his "Raise The Roof" celebration, more than a few young teammates asked him what it was, for they hadn't ever seen it before.
Sure, Campbell got some compliments, but it also made him feel every bit of his 39 years.
"(I thought) 'This is something you don't know,'" Campbell said with a smile. "'This was a big deal back in the day!'"
As the Cardinals' season comes to a close Sunday in Los Angeles, so too will Campbell's 18th NFL season. It might be his last. But there also might be a 19th, another chance to teach the younger generation some other older celly in his repertoire.
Like each of the last few seasons, Campbell wants to decompress once the games are done, take a breath, and evaluate if he wants to keep playing football.
"It's not a personal decision, it's a decision everybody has some kind of interest in," Campbell said. "I try to be respectful (answering questions), but I have to go through my process. I don't know if I'm going to retire or not because I don't know how my body is going to feel.
"Right now I feel good enough to play a football game, and that matters most because I want to be available and healthy."
Campbell has been that. He will play every game this season, bringing his career total to 278 after Sunday – one shy of the 279 by Bruce Smith and four shy of the defensive lineman-record 282 played by Jim Marshall. His 6½ sacks are second on the team, he has blocked a field goal and an extra point, and despite his age has been one of the team's best players.
"He shows up every day and does the right thing," defensive coordinator Nick Rallis said. "Practices hard, studies hard, knows his assignments, and I think he's just been a good example as the standard of what being a pro looks like. He is a very good outgoing leader who is very intentional of bringing people around with him."
Campbell likes to joke that – while it is close – rookie teammate Walter Nolen III is closer in age to Campbell's 5-year-old son than Campbell himself.
But he could end up playing with a rookie even younger than Big Walt.
"The last few years I've been through this process I've known pretty quickly that I've wanted to play again," Campbell said. "It didn't take me that long – within a month or so, I knew I wanted to play football again. We'll see. I hope to know quickly if I don't want to play football again. The biggest thing is if I do want to play football again, I give myself the opportunities to play football again. I try to always sign my work and play at a level that they want me back. Even if I decide not to play again, I want to have the ability to say no, rather than them saying, 'See you later.'"
Campbell, who would turn 40 right before the 2026 regular season, will be a free agent. If he were to play again, it wouldn't necessarily be in Arizona – although his homecoming, other than the team's record, has been a success, he said. Assuming the Cardinals feel Campbell would still be effective, his tangibles and intangibles would be valuable on a team trying to rebound from a tough 2025.
The postseason process comes first, he said. The body has to be right. And then, does he have the desire? He will do not much of anything immediately after the season, but he will watch playoff games. That will fill him both with FOMO and that twinge to return – he said watching those games has stoked his desire to return the last couple of years.
Whether that's the same feeling this year, well, it's TBD.
"I've always tried to play well enough that I have a choice," Campbell said. "I think I did well enough this year that I will have a choice. That's a good feeling."
