Jack Campbell spent his draft day the way Dan Campbell might have spent his, at home with his family in Cedar Falls, Iowa, "messing around outside" because he "couldn't sit still." You can see Dan Campbell doing the same on his family's cattle ranch in Texas before the Giants called his name in 1999.
The Lions called Jack Campbell's 18th overall Thursday night, the first and only off-ball linebacker drafted in the first round. He will bring brains and brawn to the middle of their defense, where they need it. He will make them stouter against the run, where they allowed the third most yards per carry in the NFL last season. He will elevate a unit that could dictate Detroit's ceiling in 2023.
The 2022 Butkus Award winner as the country's top linebacker, Campbell was the centerpiece of an Iowa defense last season that allowed the fewest yards per play in the nation. The hope is that he'll soon play a similar role in Detroit, where the Lions just allowed the most yards per play in the NFL.
"I’m so excited to get to Detroit, where I know football is the only thing that matters," said Campbell, speaking via Zoom from a bathroom in his family home. "I’m going to go in there and just try to learn from the veterans and this coaching staff and let’s get Detroit where they belong.”
At first glance, Campbell might look like any other big-bodied linebacker. Lions GM Brad Holmes fell into the same trap the first time he watched him, pegging him for "a plugger." Soon, he realized he was selling Campbell short: "The more you looked at him, the more athletic his traits came out." Campbell went on to record the fastest three-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle and the highest Relative Athletic Score among linebackers at the combine.
"For a 6’4.5”, 250-pound inside linebacker, that was pretty impressive," said Holmes. "And we’re not even getting into two-time captain. We’re not even getting into extremely instinctive, extremely smart, extremely physical, very versatile. He can do it in the run game and the pass game."
It will be Campbell's charge to prove the latter, particularly whether he can keep up with tight ends and the occasional running back in the middle of the field. He also had the second slowest 40-yard dash among linebackers at the combine. His lack of elite speed in a league that seems to get faster every year is one reason why he was generally viewed as a second-round pick. But when No. 18 rolled around for the Lions, Holmes said Campbell was the highest-rated player on their board, and "actually by a good margin."
Could they have waited to draft him at No. 34? Maybe, and that will color the perception of the pick moving forward. The draft is about finding value as much as talent. Even Holmes admitted that Campbell might have been available later. But he "didn't want to mess around." Given the Lions' grade on Campbell, Holmes said it was "really a no-brainer" to take him when they did. Campbell will have to fulfill every bit of his potential to prove this true.
While some might question Campbell's raw athleticism, Lions linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard said it was impossible to miss: "It’s exceptional what this player can do at his size." But the tape wasn't what pushed Campbell to the top of Sheppard's linebacker rankings in the draft. For Sheppard, "the thing that jumps him above some other guys, in my opinion, is his passion for the game."
"The way it drives him," said Sheppard. "You see it, he speaks it, he lives it."
Sheppard felt it from the moment he sat down with Campbell at the combine. At one point during their conversation, which also included Dan Campbell and Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, Sheppard said the 22-year-old was "literally in tears," overcome by his own devotion to the game. When Campbell walked out of the room, the three coaches looked at each other "like, 'Damn, that's going to be hard to top right there," Sheppard said.
Later, when the Lions hosted Iowa DE Lukas Van Ness on a pre-draft visit, Sheppard said Van Ness spent more time talking about Campbell "as a leader and the things he brought to their team" than he did about himself. Van Ness would eventually be a first-round pick himself, 15th overall to the Packers, but all he wanted to do in the lead-up to the draft was gush about his teammate. The Lions can't wait to get their newest Campbell in the building.
"He is a Detroit guy," said Sheppard. "Like, he is a Dan Campbell guy. He is a culture fit immediately."
There was a shower in the background of Campbell's Zoom call with the media, and a towel hanging from a door. He was wearing a grey T-shirt and vowing to "put his teammates first and roll up my sleeves," to "get the job done, no matter how long it takes." No frills for the first-round pick, glamour only in the grind. If Zoom were around in 1999, we know what Dan Campbell's call would have looked like.
"I’m so excited to step foot in the building and get ready to work," Campbell said. "Everything (else) flew out the window. I’m a Lion, and that’s the only thing that matters. I’m so damn proud to be a Lion.”
That's Jack Campbell the person, who fuels Jack Campbell the player. You might think you know both, but beware: "It's the passion," said Sheppard, "that I don’t know if people are quite ready for."