Jack Campbell 'Pretty Hard on Himself' Early in NFL Career
Rookie linebacker Jack Campbell has impressed early in his Lions career with his physicality and knowledge. He's quickly picking up Aaron Glenn's defensive scheme.
However, the one person who is least likely to be satisfied with his performance is himself.
Third-year Lions coach Dan Campbell has noticed the first-round pick becoming frustrated with himself upon making a mistake.
As is the case with any rookie, the Iowa product is struggling to adapt to the speed of the game. When he comes up short on an assignment, he has a tendency to become aggravated with his performance.
"He's good, he's what you'd expect. He's gonna grind through it, he's gonna work at it. He's pretty hard on himself. That's something he's gonna need to work on. It's a blessing and a curse when you're hard on yourself. He's doing a good job, and (Kelvin Sheppard) is letting him have it. He's not gonna let him off the hook. But, he's doing good, and look, we throw a lot at those guys. Our inside linebackers are asked to do a lot mentally and physically in this defense, playing with vision a lot of the times now. ... He's got a lot on his plate, but he's growing."
There's no concern with the rookie's performance as the team wraps up mandatory minicamp. The coach has plenty of confidence in the prized draft pick to continue adjusting as he gets more reps.
"With any young player, he's smart enough to understand what's going on, but he's not processing it fast enough because he's young," the coach explained. "It gets on him fast, the speed of the game's different. That'll come."
Kelvin Sheppard can become NFL head coach
Linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard has made waves throughout his tenure with the Lions. He was one of the stars of "Hard Knocks" during training camp last summer, and has made a significant impact with his position group.
As a result, Campbell and his staff are feeling more confident about the second-year coach's abilities to lead. He's taken on a bigger role advising the team's pass rushers this offseason.
"He's earned that. The more we put on Shep, the more he answers the call and he's developing as a coach. We see growth. No different than the players, you want to see growth from your coaches. (Aaron Glenn) and I talked, and we felt like it was time to put more on him. I think Shep is a young, promising coach. I think he can be a coordinator one day, and I think he can be a head coach one day. I think he's got that type of potential."
Notes
1.) Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson will return to practice Thursday for the team's final day of minicamp.
2.) The Lions are monitoring the air quality in the Detroit area, and felt the results were satisfactory to move forward with Thursday's practice.
3.) It is very likely that Campbell will be attending the Taylor Swift concert Friday.
"There’s a good chance I'm there," Campbell noted at the end of his media session, when asked about the pop singer's concert at Ford Field. "We got some people coming, and my wife invited some friends and we got some people from the staff. So, it’ll be good. It’ll be a good time."
