With Campbell, Fourth Time Could Be Charm

GREEN BAY, Wis. – There are three realities in life. Death, taxes and the Green Bay Packers taking a flier on a veteran linebacker.

In 2018, it was Antonio Morrison. In 2019, it was B.J. Goodson. Last season, it was Christian Kirksey.

None of those three panned out. Morrison played 28 percent of the defensive snaps in his only season. That was better than Goodson’s 24 percent. At least Kirksey was the primary linebacker for most of last season until ceding that role to undrafted rookie Krys Barnes. Even a one-handed Barnes – he was dealing with a broke thumb and wearing a club-cast – was deemed a better option than Kirksey in the playoffs.

Where those three were misses, this year’s addition of De’Vondre Campbell could be a hit.

“I mean, you guys see him. He’s a pretty good-looking specimen,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Wednesday when asked if Campbell is different than Goodson and Kirksey. “He’s tall and long and he can cover. He’s got great instincts, first and foremost, which is tough to coach. But he’s really good in coverage as a zoning ‘backer, reading the quarterback’s eyes. When given the opportunities to pressure, he’s very slippery. He can get skinny and get around linemen. And he’s a great tackler.”

That last note is key. In five seasons, Campbell has made 462 tackles (official stats) and missed 32 (Pro Football Focus). That’s 14.4 tackles per miss. Last year, Kirksey had 77 tackles and 10 misses (7.7 per miss).

Campbell, who signed in June, has spent all of training camp running with Barnes as the No. 1 pairing. He looked like an All-Pro at Thursday’s padded practice. During the first sequence of plays, he stopped rookie running back Kylin Hill on back-to-back plays. During the third sequence of plays, he limited an end-around by receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling and was all over a bootleg to tight end Marcedes Lewis. In the fourth sequence, he twice met running back AJ Dillon in the hole.

“My situation is a little bit different right now because I signed so late in the offseason, so I didn’t have the full offseason with these guys,” Campbell said last week. “Right now is where I’m trying to make my adjustments and figure out who the guys are around me, what their strengths and weaknesses are, them figuring me out, as well.”

While Barnes is on pace to be the every-down linebacker, that’s a role Campbell has handled before. During a backups-vs.-backups 2-minute drill toward the end of practice, Campbell was the lone inside linebacker on the field.

At 6-foot-4, Campbell’s length gives him an edge in the passing game. While he might lack the short-area quickness to handle someone like Aaron Jones out of the backfield, his height is an obvious asset against tight ends.

“We have a lot of really good tight ends in this league so, personally, I feel like it’s just a skill-set thing,” he said. “The league is changing as a whole. You have a lot of these tight ends that are basically extra wide receivers on the field. Just being able to match up with them, I feel like I bring the size and the speed that allows me to be able to match up rather than putting a safety on them. Sometimes, even if you have a really good coverage safety, most tight ends can overpower them due to size and strength difference. I feel like that’s something that’s a very big part of my game.”

In an oddity, five off-the-ball linebackers were drafted in the fourth round in 2016. The first was Goodson, the third was Campbell, the fourth was Morrison and the fifth was Blake Martinez. Campbell was selected by the Atlanta Falcons and spent his first two years with LaFleur. In 2017, their second season together, Campbell played more than 90 percent of the defensive snaps.

“I really am excited with the addition of De’Vondre,” LaFleur said. “Just think that he’s going to bring a different dynamic to our defense.”