Iowa LB Jack Campbell Steals The Show (And Maybe The Steelers’ Hearts) – Steelers Depot

I really like the NFL Mix. Can or not it’s a bit of overrated and overstated? Certain, similar to anything. However I’m not going to be one of many curmudgeons on Twitter downplaying it within the weeks and days main as much as the occasion. As a result of each single one who does that has the identical response when a linebacker runs a 4.4 or a large receiver runs 4.2-something.

Oh my God, did you see that? That is loopy. 

That’s how soccer must be. It’s enjoyable to get excited to look at these mega-athletes work. Embrace it.

In the future into the on-field exercises, I’m certain embracing Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell.

However he’s no exercise warrior. He had the chops coming into the week. Nicely-built at 250 kilos, a rarity for the off-ball place in immediately’s NFL, his manufacturing for the Hawkeyes was off the charts. 299 profession tackles, 125+ every of the final two years, with ten cross breakups, 5 interceptions, and three pressured fumbles. He performed the run, he performed the cross, he merely made performs.

The Mix isn’t the place a participant will solely cement his draft inventory. However it’s a last impression to go away NFL groups. And oh boy, did Campbell go away a very good one. Merely put, it was an A+ exercise, the most effective of his place of the final decade. In keeping with Kent Lee Platte’s Relative Athletic Score, Campbell finished with a 9.98, a borderline traditionally good determine.

Pre-Mix, the most important typical concern over Campbell was his athleticism. He’s massive, so he can fill the run, however may he transfer in house and canopy? A requirement for modern-day linebackers and the rationale why you don’t see 250-pounders like him anymore. Campbell’s 40 time was stable, particularly given his body, his explosion numbers have been wonderful, however his agility numbers have been off-the-charts. His 4.24 brief shuttle and 6.74 three-cone have been one of the best marks of any of the entrance seven gamers who examined Thursday, edge rushers, off-ball linebackers, or defensive linemen. A 6.74 three-cone is excellent; something sub-seven seconds must be thought-about nice and just one different participant understanding yesterday, Japanese Michigan’s Jose Ramirez, hit that mark (6.95).

Campbell won’t ever be Fred Warner however he can cowl with short-area quickness and a very good soccer IQ. The numbers, his tape, and now his testing show that out. Simply because a linebacker runs quick doesn’t imply he can cowl. They’re totally different skillsets. Devin Bush is proof sufficient of that. Campbell’s tape exhibits he has the FBI (soccer intelligence), angles, and burst to match beneath routes.

So Campbell’s performed all he can do. The one drawback with that’s the rise in his “inventory.” Whereas that’s usually overstated, gamers who check effectively get drafted earlier. Campbell’s profile makes him a unicorn. If he was 220 kilos and an excellent tester, it will be worthwhile however not all that attention-grabbing. Small guys check effectively – or at the very least they need to. Campbell is testing effectively with nice dimension. He isn’t some former security his workforce spun down. He’s a real linebacker who exhibits every-down capacity. Meaning his price ticket simply went up and if Pittsburgh needs him, they might must take him at #32. Campbell’s now squarely in that dialog to be the primary off-ball linebacker off the board, proper up there alongside Clemson’s Trenton Simpson and Arkansas’ Drew Sanders, each of whom additionally had good days yesterday.

Pittsburgh will probably have a gap at inside linebacker. After so many makes an attempt and whiffs of addressing the place in free company, it’s time to look by way of the draft. It’s time to take a look at Jack Campbell, who checks every thing the Steelers search for.