His thinning hair matted with sweat, Jack Campbell could barely catch his breath before being swarmed by the media after a recent practice. There was no rest for the weary. But the Detroit Lions' star linebacker didn’t seem to mind. He was used to being pushed to his limits. It’s what he prefers.
“Give me it all,” Campbell said earlier this month. “I don’t care. That’s what I’m here for, I feel like.”
The organization seems to agree. Before rewarding him with a four-year, $81 million contract extension in May, the Lions tried to extract as much production as possible from one of their most promising emerging assets. Last season, Campbell was on the field for all but seven of Detroit’s 1,104 defensive snaps – 99.4% – while also pulling double duty
with special teams work. The inordinate workload was a feat of endurance. It also was evidence of Campbell’s indispensability.
The Lions depended on his output – the team-high 176 tackles he made, the three fumbles he forced and the five sacks he contributed. They also needed his brains and, more specifically, his high football IQ. In Year 3 of his burgeoning NFL career, the former first-round pick was tasked with being the nerve center of Kelvin Sheppard’s defense, relaying and adjusting the calls made by the then-rookie coordinator. The burden placed on Campbell was great, and even his teammates marveled at how he was able to handle those demands while performing at a level that eventually earned him All-Pro recognition.
“He’s a robot,” backup linebacker Trevor Nowaske told the Free Press. “I don’t know if that’s actually physically possible the stuff he does. His mental strength is insane. His ability to push through adversity and push through when you’re physically tired, it takes a special person. … That’s why he is who he is. That’s why he’s so successful. That’s why he’s had the career so far because, when his body gets tired, he flips that switch in his mind and just keeps pushing. And not everyone’s able to do that.”
It’s especially remarkable considering the taxing nature of the position he plays. Campbell’s snap share in 2025 was fifth-highest among all linebackers, according to Pro Football Reference. With 246 pounds packed on his 6-foot-5 frame, Campbell was built to handle it, delivering – and absorbing – punishment along the way.
“He can take and give those blows,” linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez said. “He’s got that bigger body.”
Campbell trains it in such an exhaustive way to be able to withstand the rigors of a 17-game slog and the postseason potentially beyond. In camp, he has gone full tilt, stacking as many repetitions as he can in order to be conditioned enough to endure the physical toll he’s expected to encounter again this season.
“That’s what this is for,” he said of the Lions' summer practices. “I’m trying to load up myself.”
Campbell sees it as his duty because he knows his value to the Lions is immense.
This year, it may be even greater.
After all, Campbell is unquestionably the leader now that Alex Anzalone, the savvy veteran who joined Tampa Bay this offseason, is no longer in the fold. Without Anzalone by his side, Campbell will largely fly solo while organizing a defense that is expected to begin the season without its top two safeties, Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch.
“I think he understands the importance of his role,” Nowaske said. “I know he knows that everyone’s looking to him. But he embraces that.”
He really has no other choice.
The Lions want Campbell front and center at all times.
“This is Jack Campbell’s defense,” Sheppard said this winter at the NFL scouting combine. “I don’t hesitate when I say that. … Everybody in that locker room knows it. Point blank, period. It all goes through Jack.”
Because of that, the Lions expect Campbell to be lined up and ready to go whenever the opposing offense has the ball – no ifs, ands or buts. In fact, contemplating a scenario where the linebacker is absent and unable to orchestrate the operation was almost too much to bear for Dan Campbell when a reporter asked how he’d handle that situation should it arise.
“That’s not going to happen,” the Lions coach said.
It can’t, as he insinuated.
“I mean, he does everything for us,” he said. “There is a chance we pull back on some of these special teams reps because we need him on defense. And he's not coming off the field.
“He's just too valuable.”
Without question, he has become one of the Lions’ most essential cogs.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions need LB Jack Campbell – perhaps more than ever before
