Ahead of the Week 16 matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions at Ford Field, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has his eyes on one disruptive defender that the Black and Gold have to worry about.
It’s not Lions star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson, either.
Instead, Tomlin and the Steelers have their eyes on inside linebacker Jack Campbell, a guy they did quite a bit of work on ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft with Campbell coming out of Iowa.
On the latest episode of The Mike Tomlin Show with host Bob Pompeani, Tomlin raved about Campbell and the impact he’s had in the NFL.
“Jack Campbell’s a monster. He is. I enjoyed getting to know him. Obviously we’ve got some Iowa guys on our team and I was at his pro day and took him, he and some teammates, out to eat and he’s just a high quality leader and football man,” Tomlin said of Campbell, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “You feel that not only when you are around him, but you feel it when he’s around his teammates. And that’s one of the reasons why we take collectives out to dinner. We love to feel the group dynamics. And make no mistake when that collective came outta out Iowa, man, he was the ringleader. You felt it.
“And he’s doing similar things in Detroit. He’s got great football character, he’s smart, he’s tough. He’s a good blitzer. He’s a highly productive tackler. He’s the straw that stirs their defensive drink, certainly.”
That’s quite a bit of praise for a young linebacker, but Tomlin means every word of it.
The Steelers showed a great deal of interest in Campbell coming out of college with Tomlin and GM Omar Khan, along with Senior Scouting Assistant Kelvin Fisher all in attendance in Ames, Iowa to take a look at the Hawkeyes’ standout inside linebacker at Iowa’s Pro Day.
Ultimately though, the Steelers passed on him, trading up instead for offensive tackle Broderick Jones out of Georgia. Campbell went at No. 18 overall to the Lions, one pick after the Steelers’ original pick — No. 17 overall.
Since coming into the NFL, Campbell has been a monster, as Tomlin said.
So far this season, Campbell is the third-highest graded linebacker in football from Pro Football Focus with a grade of 89.2 overall. He’s played 913 snaps and has been credited with 56 run stops. In coverage, he’s allowed 39 receptions for 341 yards and four touchdowns, but he’s generated 15 pressures as a blitzer. He also has just 11 missed tackles on the season, good for a missed tackles rate of just 7.8%.
Pretty darn good numbers for an inside linebacker overall.
The Steelers will have their hands full with him on Sunday. He’s on pace for an All-Pro selection this season and should be a Pro Bowler, too. He’ll be all over the field Sunday inside Ford Field, showing the Steelers just what they saw coming out of Iowa.
