The Packers’ low-risk acquisition of inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell in June 2021 paid huge dividends for player and team, as Campbell turned in a First-Team All-Pro performance that year and parlayed that into a five-year, $50MM deal from Green Bay last March. His first season of that new contract was marred to some degree by a knee injury that cost him four games, and Campbell recently said that he also dealt with a nagging shoulder injury for much of the year (Twitter link).
The former fourth-round pick of the Falcons returned an interception for a touchdown during the Packers’ Week 7 loss to the Commanders, and he says that he was “just hitting my stride” in that contest after playing through the shoulder pain for the first third of the season (pain that he never reported to anyone). Unfortunately, he suffered the knee injury the following week in a contest against the Bills.
Campbell, 30, returned to his full-time role in Week 13, and despite the shoulder and knee ailments, his performance did not suffer much, at least in the eyes of the advanced metrics. Pro Football Focus assigned him a 75.6 overall grade, a mark that included a particularly high 81.0 score in the all-important “coverage” category and positioned him as the NFL’s 15th-best linebacker among 81 qualifiers. In his standout 2021 season, PFF gave him an 85.0 overall grade.
Campbell says he is now completely healthy, and the Packers will need him to continue playing at a high level. Green Bay still has a puncher’s chance of winning a questionable NFC North, or to at least earn a wildcard berth, despite transitioning from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love at quarterback. If that happens, it will likely be because the club’s defense, a middling unit in 2022, returns to the top-10 form it displayed the year prior. Campbell, who calls the defensive signals, will be central to that effort.
The Packers were of course not going to move on from Campbell this offseason given their financial commitment to him and his importance to the defense. Still, it is notable that the team did not make any draft or FA investments at the ILB position, so it is clear that Green Bay has plenty of faith in Campbell and his running mate, 2022 first-rounder Quay Walker.
Campbell really wasn’t that great in Atlanta, and, in fairness to him, nobody played well at linebacker in Arizona. His performance in Green Bay felt like a blip, but a closer look at his snaps revealed how good he actually was at being in position and staying close to the ball at the same time. In Atlanta, he also played a lot outside, and Deion Jones’ presence inside limited Campbell’s opportunities there at what seems like a more natural position. He just showed great instincts at that spot in Green Bay, even though he was also calling signals.
It’s too bad that the Packers didn’t get him earlier. At 30, his play could slip soon. It was very encouraging, however, to see Campbell excel in his limited action last year. The Packers need a leader on that defense in the middle, and Campbell seems to have seized that role enthusiastically. A few players don’t seem in place in this defense, but Campbell has really excelled. Hopefully for the Packers, this rejuvenation will continue, because Green Bay needs him badly to solidify a spot at ILB that has lacked year to year consistency since A.J. Hawk’s departure.