Lions GM Brad Holmes Speaks Out on LB Jack Campbell

Getty Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes shared a message on rookie linebacker Jack Campbell.

The Detroit Lions received criticism for their two selections in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. Their second first-round pick, linebacker Jack Campbell, was particularly surprising, as he was considered, at best, a consensus late first-round selection in mock drafts.

But Lions general manager Brad Holmes is convinced Campbell was the right pick for his team at No. 18 overall. He shared why while appearing as a guest on The Season with Peter Schrager Podcast on July 11.

“Jack Campbell is just a hell of a football player and I just think that like, we’re looking at it as he’s going to be an anchor in our defense,” Holmes said. “Not, ‘We’re drafting an inside linebacker.’ Like, no, we’re just taking an anchor that’s going to be our defense.”

The Lions drafted two players in the first round that could be featured in different spots on the field. At No. 12, Detroit selected running back Jahmyr Gibbs, who is projected to have the intelligence and skills to line up at wide receiver and in the offensive backfield.

Brad Holmes Shares Lions Draft Strategy

The NFL draft is an inexact science. There isn’t just one way to approach it, and whatever experts such as Mel Kiper, Todd McShay and Daniel Jeremiah say isn’t always what goes.

On Schrager’s podcast, Holmes provided a little insight into how the Lions form their draft board.

“We don’t draft positions. We draft players,” Holmes said. “It’s about the player. It’s not about, oh this guy only plays inside linebacker.

“When you have a guy like Jack Campbell that’s 6-foot-5, 250—that’s extremely instinctive, he’s heavy in the run game, he’s extremely smart—I just love how the kid is wired.

“I mean, he’s wired to fit what we’re all about. We’re all about grit, doing it the right way, like truly earning it, and this guy just loves football. He’s all business.”

But not only do the Lions de-emphasize team needs on their draft board, they also have their own assessments on players and stick to them even when they don’t align with the experts.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein slotted Campbell at No. 27 in his final mock draft. Heavy senior reporter Matt Lombardo had the linebacker going at No. 29 overall.

Kiper and Jeremiah didn’t have Campbell going in the first round in their last mock drafts.

Regardless, Holmes said his organization stood by their own evaluations on Campbell.

“That’s our stance. We do a lot of work, we’re very thorough, and I think every team is going to say that,” Holmes said. “But we just have a lot of conviction in our process and what we believe, and we just stick by it. That’s what we did.”

Holmes Shares More Insight About 2023 1st Round

The Lions general manager revealed another interesting tidbit that hasn’t been discussed all that much throughout the offseason — this year’s draft wasn’t as deep at the top of the board as usual.

Holmes was very frank about that fact with Schrager.

“You know, everybody was saying like, ‘This is a different draft, this is a different draft,’ Holmes said. “Well, let’s just call it what it is: it just wasn’t as strong of a draft as it normally has been in the past.

“In a normal year, you’ll have like true first-round talent players, you might have about 17 or 18 guys. I really haven’t seen any higher than 20 in all the years that I’ve been doing it.

“We ended up with 14 guys, and that was at the very end.”

But Detroit’s selection of Campbell wasn’t from a point of weakness. He wasn’t simply the next best available prospect after the team’s top 14 players were off the board.

Holmes shared Campbell was one of their top 14 players in the class.

“I thought Jack Campbell, you know, had all the traits that we look for in a football player,” Holmes said. “So that’s how we felt really good about it, and again, going back to what I was saying about there wasn’t but a certain amount of players that we had in that first round bucket, and he was one of them,”

Campbell also wasn’t No. 14 either.

“When I say there was only 14 guys, Jack Campbell wasn’t 14th. You know what I mean, so, that’s why it was easy.”

Campbell is expected to compete for a starting job at inside linebacker during this year’s training camp.