Jack Campbell just apologized to the rest of the linebackers around the NFL after signing his extension with the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions LB Jack Campbell signs $81M contract and says he “apologizes” to other linebackers around the NFL after the deal, and his reasoning is something not many players would say out loud.
All-Pro linebacker Jack Campbell just signed a huge four-year, $81 million contract with the Detroit Lions. A deal that locks him up in Detroit until 2030.
With that said, this wasn’t the expected deal at the end of the day. What was really expected was something that would have totally reset the linebacker market. Not long ago, we predicted a four-year $104 million deal that would have made him the highest-paid linebacker ever in annual value and total value.
He absolutely could have gotten that, too. A 26-year-old elite linebacker can pretty much write his own ticket. But here’s the thing…
Campbell told the Lions he didn’t need to be the highest-paid linebacker. He just wanted to be in the elite category
“Let’s be realistic here, I already have more than enough, so for me it was more about the principle of I just want to be in the elite category, because I feel like I’m an elite linebacker, and that’s the way Brad (Holmes) saw it, and that’s the way everyone up there saw it” Campbell said on Wednesday. “I feel like for me, I don’t need to be the highest paid, even though the guys around the league would probably appreciate that, because it bumps up everything, so I’m sorry to them, but I just feel like, for me, like, I knew what I wanted in this, I want to help the team in any ways possible, just to continue to keep the core together. So, I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like it was fair for the team, and I’m more than happy with everything that they blessed me with.”
He’s absolutely right. Campbell just kinda lowered the market for other linebackers looking to get big deals around the league. Jaguars linebacker Devin Lloyd is also looking for an extension now, and instead of a potential $100 million deal for him, he’s like to get something in the $90 million range. Not bad, but not as much as he could have got.
At the end of the day, this is exactly what we probably should have expected from Campbell, who grew up in a working-class household and still very much has that attitude. He got a really good deal, and the Lions did too. Everyone walks away happy here.
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