Welp. There is the Lions’ concept of positional value, and there is everybody else’s. Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell went old-school with Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell, and they took two guys in the first round who I would have not rated first at their positions. So, there’s that. Campbell fits as an old-school headbanger in the middle of Detroit’s defense, but I’m not sure about the payoff for a top pick.
Height: 6′ 4⅝” (96th percentile) Weight: 249 (84th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.65 (67th)
10-Yard Split: 1.59 (70th)
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 37½” (84th)
Broad Jump: 128″ (94th)
3-Cone Drill: 6.74 (95th)
20-Yard Shuttle: 4.24 (66th)
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 31⅞” (34th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (90th)
Bio: Campbell was named to the All-Iowa Elite all-state team by the Des Moines Register as a senior out of Cedar Falls High, and he also won his team’s Golden Hammer Award, which is the best name ever for such a prize. Campbell could have been a Division I basketball prospect, but chose instead to go with the Hawkeyes as a linebacker. Over four seasons with the Hawkeyes, he had three sacks, 37 total pressures, 205 tackles, 126 stops, and he allowed 74 catches on 94 targets for 309 yards, 477 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, five interceptions, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 82.1. In 2022, Campbell had 761 snaps at linebacker, 89 in the slot, 21 along the defensive line, and two at cornerback.
Stat to Know: On plays in which he was double-teamed last season (21 of them), Campbell allowed four yards per carry and no explosive plays as a tackler.
Strengths: Against double teams and slide blocks, Campbell is big and aggressive enough to clock through protections and create tackles for loss. He spends a lot of time diagnosing things after the snap, so one thinks this might be accelerated in a defense where he can just pin his ears back and go more often.
Campbell is pretty nifty in coverage for a guy his size — you wouldn’t want him taking a tight end 30 yards up the chute, but he’s perfectly capable of working from the middle of the field to curl/flat responsibilities.
As a pass-rusher, Campbell can bring it from just about anywhere in the front seven; he combines the speed to fly by multiple gaps and the power to deal with blockers in an appealing package.
Okay, he should have sealed the deal there. Here, in the same game against Kentucky, he chased the quarterback down and did just that.
Weaknesses: There are times when I’d like to see Campbell be more sudden with his movements — as I said, he spends so much time diagnosing, that he’ll sometimes be a tick behind the play, whether it’s in the open field, or defeating blocks in closed spaces. I don’t think it’s a play speed issue, but it does show up on tape in a negative sense.
Conclusion: If you’re running a heavy dime defense in the NFL and you’re looking for a 230-pound move ‘backer whose 4.4 speed transfers to the field, Campbell probably isn’t your ideal. But if you prefer a nice combination of the new-school athletic linebacker and the old-school downhill thumper, Campbell would be a great fit. I would love to see his NFL coaches get him out of his own head a little bit, and have him just scream to the ball at times instead of thinking and processing through every play.
NFL Comparison: Karlos Dansby. There aren’t a lot of linebackers who move as well as Campbell does at his height and weight, but Dansby was one. Selected in the second round of the 2004 draft by the Cardinals out of Auburn, Dansby proved able to do just about everything on the field at 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds. Campbell has that kind of potential — once again, let’s have him not think and diagnose quite as much once he gets the hang of his NFL defense.
