Lions News: Jack Campbell named 2024 breakout candidate

Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell held his own in the star-studded 2023 rookie class, but it didn’t come without some growing pains.

The 23 year old certainly didn’t do poorly, but his performance left something to be desired, says NFL.com’s Eric Edholm.

“After a promising opener against the (Kansas City) Chiefs, Campbell had trouble in coverage. The Lions tried to moonlight him as a blitzer as a way to kick-start the pass rush, but Campbell struggled to generate much pressure. He also had games where missed tackles were an issue, something he almost never struggled with in college,” he writes.

As Campbell adjusts to the NFL, that proficiency in college is exactly what leads Edholm to believe the first-round pick is due for a breakout season.

“Campbell wore the green helmet sticker as the team’s defensive play-caller when Alex Anzalone was injured and was tasked with a lot more than your typical rookie linebacker. Becoming the cerebral center for a defense on a team that carried itself like a world beater last season was no easy task. And Campbell was more good than bad, even while looking stressed and overloaded at times,” he explained.

Campbell appears already on schedule for this breakout season—he had a standout performance featuring two interceptions just last week at mandatory minicamp, Jeremy reports.

“I expect less of the panicky, jittery Campbell we saw at times in his rookie season and more of the fire-branded field general he was at Iowa,” Edholm concluded.

And onto the rest of your notes.

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