Jack Campbell Kept All The Receipts From Draft Night
I remember it like it was yesterday. The Detroit Lions were catching nonstop flak for their first-round picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. A running back was one thing, but how dare they pick an off-ball linebacker with the 18th pick?
Well, that off-ball linebacker just signed a four-year $81 million extension. And yes, Jack Campbell has been keeping score this whole time.
Campbell took to the podium Wednesday and dropped this gem: “When I got drafted on draft night, I remember everything. I remember a lot of things that were said. A guy from my hometown mailed me a letter. I still have it today, just the CBS Sports article, just talking about how, like, this is probably the worst pick in the NFL history.”
The worst pick in NFL history. Let that marinate for a second.
The Draft Night Massacre, Revisited
Since we couldn’t track down that specific CBS article Campbell mentioned, let’s take a trip down memory lane with some of the other brilliant takes from that night. Buckle up.
Danny Kelly of The Ringer gave the pick a D, calling Campbell his “73rd-ranked player at no 18” and warning that drafting “two non-premium positions with their two first-round picks could come back to haunt them.” Haunt them indeed.
Chet Gresham of DraftKings went even harder with a D-minus: “I don’t like giving out F’s because I surely can’t see the future, but man, the Lions are making some weird picks.” He called Campbell’s upside “about non-existent.” This aged like milk in August.
Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports torched the entire draft haul with an F, saying Campbell “just wasn’t projected to go anywhere near this spot” and questioning whether he could be “an impact player in coverage.” That impact player just made the Pro Bowl, by the way.
Nate Davis from USA Today slapped an F on the pick too, calling it “a major reach” and claiming “The Lions could have had Campbell potentially two rounds later.”
Brad Holmes Doesn’t Miss
Here’s the thing about all those grades. They weren’t just wrong about Campbell as a player. They were wrong about understanding what Brad Holmes was building in Allen Park.
This front office doesn’t draft for Twitter. They don’t draft for mock draft consensus. They draft for their system, their culture, their vision of what a Detroit Lions defense should look like. Campbell was never going to be available two rounds later because Holmes knew exactly what he had in that Iowa linebacker.
The same experts who torched the Campbell pick probably would have loved it if the Lions had reached for some athletic freak who couldn’t read a playbook. Instead, Holmes took a football player. A leader. A guy who could anchor the middle of Dan Campbell’s defense for the next decade.
Campbell keeping those receipts isn’t petty. It’s smart. Because when you prove everyone wrong in the NFL, you don’t just celebrate quietly. You let them know you remember every word.
Still think Jack Campbell was the worst pick in NFL history, or are we ready to admit Brad Holmes might know what he’s doing? Drop your take below.
This is what I love about Holmes and Campbell – they actually have a plan instead of just throwing darts at a board like we’ve seen before. Jack Campbell keeping those receipts is honestly the most Detroit thing ever and I’m here for it all day.
Look, I want to believe in this front office but one good contract doesn’t erase years of my heart being ripped out. That said, if Campbell keeps playing like this then yeah, maybe they actually know what they’re doing this time.
You know what’s wild? I’ve watched this team go through so much darkness and dysfunction, and these two just come in with a real vision and actually execute it. That’s not a small thing. The difference between now and what we suffered through before is night and day.
Those draft grades were brutal lol. But I gotta give Holmes credit – he’s not chasing what the talking heads want, he’s building his own thing. The jury’s still out on some of his other moves but Campbell was a legit good call.