Why the Detroit Lions should pick LB Jihaad Campbell

There’s not many linebacker prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft that look and play like Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell

The Detroit Lions are no stranger to placing value in linebacker on Day 1 of the NFL Draft , regardless what the positional value logic axioms might dictate. Brad Holmes was more than happy to spend his 18th overall selection in 2023 on Jack Campbell, a move widely panned that turned into vindication quickly in Campbell’s career.

Linebacker is a dynamic, fluid position. If it can be mapped to some sort of kriegsspiel model, it would be the cavalry of the game; rapid response, anticipated countermeasures and flexible reinforcement. To do this exceptionally—not just adequately—calls for someone with range and versatility, not to mention whipsmarts to anticipate where the play is going to go and be in the right place at the right time. Again, cavalry comes to mind.

The Lions find themselves in an bit of a spot with the linebacker corps. The last few years of Alex Anzalone’s play have been a renaissance for the veteran, who turns 31 later this year. Malcolm Rodriguez tore his ACL late last season, and the only starting SAM on the roster is Derrick Barnes; his return was nothing short of a coup. Detroit’s been fortunate to get excellent production out of this unit, but the depth is weak and the long-term situation will call for more athletes.

So why not the best one you can shop for: Alabama’s Jihaad Campbell?

Why the Lions should draft LB Jihaad Campbell

Previously:

• Why the Lions should draft DT Kenneth Grant
• Why the Lions should draft DT Derrick Harmon

Campbell was able to turn heads at the NFL Scouting Combine, not just for his athleticism (all there, to be sure; you need the speed he has to cover logo to numbers) but for his attitude, belaying a workmanship that has seen the man from New Jersey lean in to just how many different hats he can wear on the football field.

Campbell is billed as the swiss army knife—his own words, too.

“I feel like I’m Mr. Can-Do-It-All,” he said at the combine. “I can blitz through the A-gap, I can come off the edge, I can play middle run on Tampa 2, I can drop, strong hook, hook curl, whatever you want me to do.”

The impressive part is that this wasn’t what Campbell was originally brought in to do; linebacker, that is. Recruited out of high school as an edge rusher, his development and transition was dictated by Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his own can-do attitude.

“Coming to Alabama, I had to meet with Saban. I just knew Sam and Jack linebacker, and Saban was like, ‘yeah man, can he play Will linebacker?’ And I’m like, ‘yeah.’ Mind you, I don’t even know what that position is. So he said, ‘You know what that is?’ I said, “Nah.’ He said, ‘Okay, well that’s our middle linebacker position. We’ll be using you in the box’…that point right there, I was like, all right, let’s do it. Let’s lock it in and we gonna go for a ride.”

The result, over two years of service for Alabama, proved Saban’s faith that Campbell could be more than just an edge rusher. Campbell didn’t just line up inside, he spent time outside on the strongside as well. Where once was a pure edge rusher, he worked to develop off-ball skills and would regularly drop back into coverage. All said, Campbell led the Tide in four different defensive stats: 117 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, five sacks and two forced fumbles.

So Campbell’s the five-tool athlete of linebackers, right? Not quite yet. The off-ball skills are probably a work-in-progress. Daniel Jeremiah said that while he has become comfortable in coverage, he still “doesn’t possess elite instincts” in this aspect just yet. Dane Brugler, in his guide to the 2025 draft, said “Off-ball instincts are still developing—can be late on read plays” and “still learning how to cycle through route concepts.”

But the play disruption there is unequivocal. His DNA as a pass rusher translates to a violent release and attack to disrupt the play; but it’s the patience of a linebacker to wait for the right opportunity, identify the protection and find the weakness at the right time, that’s what gets this whole thing sizzling on the griddle. Combine that with an athletic range that can take him east to west to make the play, and this is where the hype really comes into focus.

All this comes from a strong football IQ. On first and second downs, Campbell stands up and reads plays, directs traffic for the Alabama defense and disrupts where most applicable, waiting with patience for the moment protection starts to break down. He can anticipate plays as good as anyone, and puts himself in the right position to make a play. On third down, in his own words : “coach feeling froggy, put me on the edge and go get the quarterback.”

And the run disruption, oh the run disruption this guy has. The Lions want to stop the run? Then Campbell is there to smash a rusher, his protection, whatever has to be done to blow a play up. This is again where his range comes into play, but also where physicality and edge presence means he can dominate against blockers.

How could he be available at 28?

I believe that there is not a lot of daylight between many of the top 50 draft picks after the first eight or ten. While every team will have their own big board, there is a major red flag this year that every team has, as of the time of this writing, their own first round draft picks. This is rare for the modern draft process, but it speaks to a reality that there’s not much consensus on the top prospects in the eyes of many teams.

Campbell’s own draft value will not just be weighed down by his status as a linebacker—which again, conventional logic says is rarely worth first round capital—but also a matter of schematic fit. He’s also coming off surgery to repair his labrum, which could maybe push a few teams off any ideation of a first round linebacker. That, however, has never been an issue for Lions general manager Brad Holmes.

But it’s hard to ignore what comes in Campbell’s package. The Detroit Lions move to Kelvin Sheppard as their new defensive coordinator, himself a former NFL linebacker and linebacker coach. He of all people should be able to appreciate what a wide-ranging set of skills Campbell brings to the roster, and should be able to help him develop his off-ball skills even further to become a true linebacker for all seasons.

In the immediate, Campbell is ready to play strongside, where the Lions will need reinforcement to Derrick Barnes. If the Lions can also utilize his pass rushing capabilities, it would add reinforcement to quarterback pressure that lagged severely without Aidan Hutchinson on the field.

Finally, this puts the Lions closer to collecting more football-playing Campbells, much like infinity stones or some other nerdry, and incites chaos with the jerseys within a singular unit. Nobody will see it coming.