Jack Campbell’s rise in Detroit has reached another level.
The Lions middle linebacker was voted a team captain for the first time this season, another sign that his role inside the defense keeps growing right alongside his production. For a player who has climbed a little higher every year, this feels like the next natural step.
“Jack has taken this thing over,” head coach Dan Campbell said. “We said it from day one, but everybody respects what Jack Campbell is about.”
That respect has been built on performance. In 2025, Campbell put together the best season of his career, finishing with 176 tackles, nine tackles for loss, five sacks, five quarterback hits and three forced fumbles.
Every one of those numbers was a career high. He also earned first-team All-Pro honors for the first time and was graded by Pro Football Focus as the NFL’s second-best linebacker.
Detroit views him as one of the league’s most complete run defenders, a linebacker whose size, strength and sideline-to-sideline speed let him wreck plays all over the field. He’s also become a dangerous blitzer, the kind of player who can change the tone of a series in a hurry.
That’s why the language around him keeps getting bigger. He’s not just productive; he’s central.
Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said Campbell was “ born to be a middle linebacker ”, and Dan Campbell has leaned into the same idea. The head coach praised the way he prepares, studies and handles the game plan, saying, “The way he goes about his business, It means something to him,” the head coach said.
“The way he works, he understands the game plan. He understands what the offense is trying to do to him.
He is snap to whistle all the time”
Campbell also carries the responsibility of Detroit’s “green-dot” role, relaying defensive playcalls to the rest of the unit. Now in his fourth season, that on-field job is being matched more and more by leadership away from the huddle.
“Anything that Jack says, people listen to,” Dan Campbell said. “Because he's earned that by the way he plays, his demeanor and his FBI.”
His growth has been steady since the Lions shifted him back to Mike after his rookie year at Sam. With Alex Anzalone no longer anchoring the linebacking group, Campbell is being asked to do even more - not just as a playmaker, but as the voice of the defense.
Detroit made that expectation official this offseason when it gave him a four-year $81 million extension, making him the second highest-paid off-ball linebacker in football. Add in the captain designation, and his standing in the locker room is clear.
Even so, Campbell doesn’t sound interested in acting like he’s arrived. He talked about keeping a “rookie mindset” and staying hungry for more.
“Coming out here every day and always wanting to learn more, and never thinking that I've arrived or never thinking that I have something figured out,” he said. “...
Even if I do make a good play, how could I have done it better? And if I mess up, that's just not acceptable at this point.”
The expectations only get louder from here. Campbell enters 2026 with more pressure than ever, especially with some questions behind him in Detroit’s secondary early in the year. The Lions will need him to be one of the defense’s reliable anchors, carrying a big share of the run defense and blitz production while the back end sorts itself out.
That’s the kind of challenge he appears built for. His first game as a captain comes Sunday, when the Lions host the New Orleans Saints.
In Other News...
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Dave Fipp has also weighed in on the return-game plan, underscoring that kickoff and punt duties are part of the bigger roster puzzle rather than separate afterthoughts. With only a handful of receivers on the active roster, Kennedys role carries more significance than it might have in camp, and the opener will offer the first real look at how Detroit intends to balance his value on offense with what he can do on special teams. [Read more 🡒]
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Jared Goff And Detroits New OC Face Immediate Pressure In Week 1
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Week 1 against the New Orleans Saints will be the first real test of how quickly that relationship translates from the meeting room to the field. Petzing does not need to reinvent anything for Detroit, but he does need to show he can fit into what Goff does best while still leaving his own imprint, and that balance is already going to matter when the lights come on. [Read more 🡒]