The answer depends on the expectations.
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I agree with you. Did we get what you’d expect to get from an 18OA pick? No. Did we get what you’d expect from a position player that almost NEVER goes that high? No. When you take a MLB that high, you expect him to be an impact player right away. Like taking a TE at 8. Or RB at 12. We did with Hockenson/Gibbs.
It wasn’t good IMHO that he couldn’t take the role early on from a 4th round 3rd year LB who was still the preferred player until he got hurt in the NFCC game and that honestly may have been the turning of the tide in that game, though there were several of those.
If you don’t look at it like your chasing what a 18OA MLB pick needs to be, then I think you could say Campbell had a decent rookie season. I for one, just can’t look at it like that. He is going to have to be a Wagner type player for 2 contracts with us to make that pick a great one IMHO. If it’s me, we’d have just went out and bought the real Wagner, used him as the bridge to Barnes and taken Kancy at 18. Then IF Barnes didn’t pan out, you go back to the well. We also had Rodrigo who was and is a pretty good player. I just think it was another example of Holmes falling for a player and by gum he was going to be a Lion. But with this pick and what the cost was, he’d better be a great MLB, not a good MLB and soon.
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He showed some flashes… got picked on in coverage a lot. We need more and I think he makes big strides. Playing behind Reader and Alim, all the linebackers should be thrilled about that.
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100%
For a rookie AND for this draft class, he had a great season. In draft re-do’s, he’s still in the 1st. Pundits count the Campbell pick a success.
It’s fair to say say he had a good rookie season, but a lot of us expected more. When I expected more, it was along the lines of seeing a trajectory where any minute now he was going to make a game-changing impact. That moment never really came, but he still had a good rookie season. Some of that had to do with what he was asked to do, too, which was playing some edge responsibilities on the line.
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The Lions trying to make him an outside pass rushing LB slowed his development some IMO. He was always more suited to the middle.
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It was an odd fit cause he’s got zero pass rush moves. That experiment was short lived. Meanwhile Barnes has a background playing edge in college. They appear to have sorted it out now.
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They were just trying to find a way to get him on the field. He wasn’t better at MLB than Barnes was yet, and we didn’t have a good SAM after Houston’s injury.
I don’t think there was ever a long term plan to have him be at SAM, it was just a short term bandaid until they found a combination that worked best.
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Agree
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Not remotely concerned about Jack Campbell being an absolute stud
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I don’t even think it’s fair to judge….they strategically worked him in slowly. He wasn’t expected to be Urlacher off rip but he can easily transition to a Speilman-type
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You are missing the point. Since he didn’t do it from day 1 he is the worst pick in the history of the franchise. Kobe Bryant wasn’t Kobe Bryant from day 1. Which means he was also a terrible pick.
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I had a hard time judging the front 6-7, given the AIDS-tier play from the backfield
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For a rookie I thought he played well. I expect a decent leap in year two. He’s a big dude who can move well and is obviously well prepared. All of the ingredients are there, including a great coaching staff that knows how to maximize player’s abilities. Not to mention he needed to prepare himself for the green dot responsibilities. By contrast, Branch, for the most part only needed to know his responsibility so he was more likely to start playing faster right away. The young man had a lot on his plate and I think he’s going to be a good player for us. Plus, he’s got a real cool girlfriend.
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Plus Jack is older than he’s ever been. This won’t end well 
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I think the Lions played him all over so that he could learn everyone’s roles and become Captain Jack of the Defense this year.
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what you and your cousin?
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