Lions Sign LB Jack Campbell
The Detroit Lions announced that they have signed rookie linebacker Jack Campbell.
He becomes the fifth rookie to sign, after Colby Sorsdal, Antoine Green, Hendon Hooker and Brodric Martin each inked their rookie deals.
According to NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell, "What stood out snap after snap was Campbell had a great feel for navigating the box and working through bodies without getting caught up in the traffic with the result that he was clean finding the ball. Overall Campbell was as good a box run defender as I saw on tape. While Campbell is not an elite athlete with twitch and sudden movement traits, the more I watched his tape the more I saw a deceptively good straight line linear mover with more than functional play speed and range who made many plays outside the box and outside the numbers."
Campbell is a physical linebacker, with a great deal of athleticism. At 6-foot-4, he possesses rare size for the linebacker position.
In addition to totaling 299 career tackles at Iowa, he also picked off five passes, and scored two defensive touchdowns.
His final year as a Hawkeye was a big one. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the Big Ten Linebacker of the Year, and he was a consensus All-American.
"Overall I believe Campbell is an excellent prospect who will likely begin his career as a base defense LB and then transition to a three-down player once he gains experience," Cosell told the Lions' official team website. "He is a much better athlete than many think he is and his size and length and savvy as a both a run defender and underneath zone coverage defender will get him on the field early."
Campbell will compete for playing time with incumbent starters Alex Anzalone and Malcolm Rodriguez. Anzalone has started 31 games over the last two seasons, and earned a three-year extension with the organization this offseason.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, emerged as a starter after being drafted in the sixth round in 2022.
