'A perfect fit for Detroit': Lions and Jack Campbell a match made in heaven

Jack Campbell will be the first to admit he's a work in progress.

The former Iowa linebacker — selected No. 18 in the first round of the NFL draft by the Detroit Lions and formally introduced Friday afternoon at team headquarters alongside the No. 12 pick, Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs — almost said it verbatim less than two minutes into his first official news conference.

"I've got to get better at that," Jack Campbell acknowledged.

But he wasn't talking about any of the "weaknesses" NFL draft experts listed when he was widely predicted as a Day 2 selection. Campbell was talking about using social media, a staple of his generation but something that doesn't come naturally to the 6-foot-5, 249-pound linebacker from Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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Neither did any of the glitz or glamour of the NFL draft process really fit the Lions' newest linebacker.

He said he's not against social media — it's just not for him. The same goes for how he decided to spend the past 24 hours; with the immediate family members in his childhood home, as opposed to out on the town or in the green room in Kansas City, Missouri.

"I just went in there and tried to be who I am and obviously they gravitated toward that in that formal interview," Campbell said about his meetings with the Lions in the pre-draft process. "What they’re all about, I’m all about, and that’s just a genuine passion for the game of football and just getting to win and an opportunity to go out there and compete.

"Kind of an old-school, blue-collar mindset and that's maybe what they liked about me. I feel like that's a perfect fit for Detroit."

Campbell became an All-American linebacker in his senior season at Iowa, recording 125 tackles, including 5½ for loss, in 13 starts. He was named the Dick Butkus Award winner as the nation's top linebacker, the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and awarded the William V. Campbell honor, more commonly known as the "Academic Heisman."

He also graded out with the highest athleticism score among off-ball linebackers in this year's draft by NFL's NextGen stats. In fact, his 9.98 out of 10 relative athleticism score ranked No. 6 out of 2,652 eligible linebackers since 1987.

But still, draft experts and supposed social media experts alike seemed to think the pick was a mistake, or at least a reach. The issue has never been with Campbell or his production, but instead the perceived lack of value a middle linebacker brings relative to other positions. However, in a phone call with reporters on Friday, his college coach Kirk Ferentz tried to put "value" into perspective.

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"What I did tell people in the NFL as they came through was that one thing I can feel pretty confident in saying, whoever drafts him is not going to let him leave the building over the next 10 years," he said. "Because it’s one thing to get a really good football player, it’s another thing to get a guy who really adds value in so many other areas and I think that’s just what Jack does.

"That’s just how he’s wired."

A two-time captain with the Hawkeyes, Campbell said he earned his respect by following the advice of his position coach, Seth Wallace, who always told him to, "give people a lot of reason to say ‘and’ about you, not a lot of reasons to say ‘but’ about you."

Another philosophy for Campbell: make your actions speak louder than your words. That's why he said he didn't care if he was taken first overall or as an undrafted free agent, but instead he was always going to "trust in God's plan" wherever he went.

As it turned out, it was Detroit, and his presence is expected to help a linebacker room that was thin. The team re-signed captain Alex Anzalone to a three-year deal in the offseason, but his upside is limited.

Malcolm Rodriguez had a nice rookie campaign, but the sixth-rounder wasn't drafted to be a three-down linebacker; Derrick Barnes has taken steps, but has yet to materialize to the difference maker they'd hoped he'd become.

But Lions management often gravitates toward players for more than just their ability, but their character. So what does he like to do when he's not between the white lines, you ask?

"I would say that I like to go to church, hang out with friends and hunt," he said. "Like, that’s it."

Campbell majored in enterprise leadership at Iowa. He said he chose it because he liked the idea of potentially running a small business someday and he is interested in subjects that so directly correlate to his life.

He plans on bringing the same mentality toward this job that he will any future job.

"You show up every single day with a great attitude and great effort," he said. "There’s going to be hard days, there’s going to be good days, but never ride in those valleys and never ride in those peaks. Just stay steady."

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' first-round pick Jack Campbell a perfect fit in Detroit