This Big Ten star may be the Bills' answer at linebacker in first round of NFL Draft
For as decorated and accomplished a player as Jack Campbell was during his college career at Iowa, the linebacker’s personality and conversational skills may have been his most redeeming quality.
At the NFL Scouting Combine, Campbell had the assembled media mesmerized by his ability to connect, to answer a question with a thoughtful answer, to inject some humor and humility to the proceeding, unlike so many of the robots who have been trained to recite nothing but meaningless cliches.
“I love having that green dot on my helmet,” Campbell said at the NFL Scouting Combine when he was asked about shouldering the responsibility of being the defensive signal caller which he was at Iowa. “When I make a mistake, I want to be the first one that raises my hand, and then I want to be the one that gets chewing tobacco in my eyes from coaches at Iowa.”
Yes Buffalo Bills fans, if there’s a need for a new picture to describe what a blue collar player looks like, Campbell’s is the face you’d want to see. Josh Allen is 100% a Buffalo guy, and Campbell sure seems like he would be, too.
This is not to say that Campbell is all talk and no action, though. No one cares about guys who can spew great quotes but then can’t make a tackle or defend a pass. On the contrary, the 6-foot-4, 243-pounder may be the best inside linebacker in the draft, and the Bills - with a glaring need at that position - should be giving deep thought to picking him, perhaps even with their first-round pick.
“Campbell was about as dominant of a linebacker as you’ll see in college,” Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus wrote in his draft guide. “He is also one of the biggest linebackers you’ll ever see in college. The Iowa defense had plenty of NFL talent on it, and Campbell was arguably the best of the bunch.”
What the Bills lost in Tremaine Edmunds is his uncommon size in the middle of the defense. He was a 6-foot-5, 250-pounder with a tremendous wing span that was instrumental in pass coverage because he narrowed the throwing lanes for opposing quarterbacks.
Campbell is nearly as big as Edmunds and he’s very close athletically. He doesn’t have the same length or sideline to sideline speed, but he makes up for that with his intelligence, his instincts, and his ability to quickly diagnose plays.
“Linebackers, you’ve got to be amphibious and do a lot of different things,” said Campbell, who was an every-down player at Iowa just like Edmunds was for Buffalo. “When I think of amphibious, I think of a frog. You can go in the water, you can go on the land.
“At linebacker you’ve got to play the run, take on blocks, you’ve got to be able to use your hands, you’ve got to be violent back there. But also you’ve got to drop back into coverage. I have to be able to take on 330-pound guys and defeat them and then go tackle a Nick Chubb. The next play I’m going to have to cover Tyreek Hill. That’s the context I’m talking about.”
Campbell was a first-team All-America in 2022, a two-year captain at Iowa, and he also won the William V. Campbell Trophy which is presented to the college player with the best combination of academics, community service, and on-field performance and is often referred to as the “academic Heisman.”
Campbell’s production was undeniable at Iowa. In 2021 he made 143 tackles which led all of FBS while also making two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown, Last year his 122 tackles led the Big Ten and won the Dick Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker.
At the Combine, he ran a 4.65 in the 40 which was 15th among LBs, but his three-cone drill time of 6.74 seconds was No. 1 and his 37.5-inch vertical jump 10-foot, eight-inch broad jump were both second-best. NextGenStats put those results in its blender and spit out the No. 1 athletic score among linebackers.
He credits his athleticism to playing multiple sports in high school. He led his Cedar Falls high school team to back-to-back Iowa state basketball titles and could have played Division I had he not chosen football.
“In Iowa you do everything because there’s obviously not much to do,” he said with a smile. “Being able to compete year round is something I think is invaluable. A lot of people don’t realize that. A lot of kids nowadays focus on one sport, but you only have your season to, I wouldn’t say develop your competitive edge, but going through the year and being able to compete, I don’t think you can simulate that.”
If the Bills were to pick him, he’d be able to reconnect with two former Hawkeyes, offensive lineman Ike Boettger and defensive lineman AJ Epenesa.
“Me and Ike have a really good relationship,” Campbell said. “He’s one of those guys who’s been a great mentor to me. He grew up right down the street from me. I’ve known him a long, long time. Just all the stories he tells from the Bills, it’d be a great organization to go to. And AJ is one of the most talented pass rushers I’ve ever played with.
“I feel like coming from the University of Iowa, coming from a program led by Kirk Ferentz and the way we approach things, I feel like I’ve already come from a pro-level system and how we operate there as an organization. I think that’s going to help me translate my game to the next level.”
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills draft prospects: Can Jack Campbell fill a need at linebacker?
