As he walked through the locker room Wednesday, Jack Campbell was lamenting the fact that he hasn't shot a white-tailed deer since his junior year at Iowa. It's one of the longest droughts of his life. He called it "disrespectful" to the game. He might be making up for it on the field, where the second-year linebacker is hunting in the middle of the Lions' defense.
The Jags were already tagged in the fourth quarter last Sunday. That didn't matter to Campbell, who charged toward the line on a fourth-down blitz to run a twist with Alim McNeill, barreled through guard Ezra Cleveland and flattened Mac Jones to split a sack with Za'Darius Smith. But three days later, Campbell pointed to a different play to explain how he's seeing the game better than ever in the NFL.
Early in the first quarter, Jags receiver Brian Thomas Jr. "swapped back on a little boot" across the line, said Campbell, and caught a pass out of the backfield on a play designed to confuse the linebackers in a cover-2 defense. Campbell spied it like he was in a tree stand -- which, at 6'5, is part of his appeal. Campbell and Terrion Arnold converged on Thomas to bring him down for a minimal gain, "but I feel like I saw that play quick," Campbell said.
"I just wish I could've cut him down a little bit sooner. I feel like that was a play that sticks out in my mind. I'm like, I saw that sh*t like that," Campbell said with a snap of his fingers.
Through 10 games of his second season, Campbell has been one of the most productive linebackers in the NFL. He has a team-high 78 tackles and five tackles for loss; he had 29 and two, respectively, at this juncture last season. Among linebackers who have played at least half of their team's defensive snaps, Campbell has the seventh-highest grade in the league, per PFF. He was graded 51st -- out of 57 -- as a rookie.
His growth comes at a good time. With Alex Anzalone out for several weeks with a broken forearm, Campbell is about to step into the biggest challenge of his young career. Anzalone has been the general of Aaron Glenn's defense from the moment they both arrived in 2021, the green-dot linebacker who gets the calls in his helmet and relays them to his teammates on the field. Campbell has filled Anzalone's role at times in the past, but never on a steady basis like this.
"You obviously lose leadership," said Campbell. "You lose a great football player. You lose a lot of things, but at the same time, it's happened all year long. We just got the warriors out there. We're just gonna keep going."
Indeed, Detroit's defense has suffered enough losses in the front seven to basically comprise another front seven. Anzalone joins Aidan Hutchinson, Derrick Barnes and Marcus Davenport among the key players on the shelf. Anzalone is a big one because, as Dan Campbell said this week, "he’s a guy who understands the game, a smart football player, an instinctive player."
"But so much of it is, he knows exactly what AG’s thinking," Campbell said. "They’ve been together long enough to where when we get in this situation, this is what you want, this how we’re doing it."
It's probably impossible to replicate that rapport. The shared wavelength between Anzalone and Glenn is part of the reason the Lions' defense has stayed so connected amid the attrition, fifth in the NFL in scoring and first in third down. As Glenn has diversified the stunts and blitzes to offset the losses in personnel, Anzalone has kept everyone in place. But Campbell has "been right in (Anzalone's) hip pocket, and he watches that and he learns and he listens," said the head coach.
More than that, Campbell repeats most of the calls from Anzalone as they come in from Glenn to ensure that everyone on the defense is on the same page. He smiled and said, "Sometimes you'll get safeties messing around in the back. They just had to run down, like, 60 yards and they don't want to come to the huddle." (Can you blame them?) He's been subconsciously preparing for the job he's about to take on.
"It's not that big," he shrugged.
Campbell, 24, also took over the green-dot duties earlier this season against the Cardinals and late last season against the Saints when Anzalone was out with injuries. And during practices this spring before Anzalone was on the field, the Lions let Campbell call the defense as Jared Goff called the offense. Those were valuable mental reps against one of the smartest quarterbacks in the game.
"Everybody knows what Alex does for us as a defense," McNeill said after last week's win. "He does a lot of communicating, so it’ll be tough (without him). But with Jack, I don’t feel like we’re missing too much of a beat there."
"He’ll step right into that," said Dan Campbell, "and he’ll embrace it. I think you’ll see him thrive.”
To their point, Campbell said he doesn't need to study any harder than usual this week because "you always prepare like you're that person that's got to do everything. Nothing has changed." And while Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson presents a unique challenge Sunday with his arm, athleticism and general physicality, it's exactly the sort of task that Campbell enjoys.
"This dude is legit 245, and he looks for contact, which I respect," Campbell said.
Campbell, of course, seeks it out himself. With the experience he's gained, he said he's "letting go and playing fast," which is where it starts at his position: "Just letting it rip." Anzalone is likely out for the rest of the regular season. It's Campbell who will quarterback the defense down the stretch, with Glenn in his ear and his finger on the trigger.