Jack Campbell keeps ascending.
The Detroit Lions middle linebacker was named a team captain this year for the first time. It’s the latest notch on the belt for a player who has grown better and better every season.
Our captains for the 2026 season pic.twitter.com/IOfWnWDEln
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) September 7, 2026
“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.”
Campbell named captain for Lions' defense
In 2025, Campbell recorded 176 tackles, nine tackles for loss, five sacks, five quarterback hits and three forced fumbles– all career highs.
He was a first-team All-Pro for the first time and graded out as Pro Football Focus’ second-best linebacker in the league.
Campbell is one of the league’s best run defenders. His combination of size, strength and sideline-to-sideline speed make him an absolute torpedo of a player in the middle, and a menacing blitzer. It’s become cliché to say, but he really is the heart and soul of the Detroit defense.
Plus, he brings a mean streak and sense of toughness his coaches have raved about— defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said he was “born to be a middle linebacker”. A Dan Campbell player if there ever was one.
“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 is Detroit’s “green-dot” player, the one who relays the defensive playcalls to the other players. All of the sudden entering his fourth season, on-field leadership role is starting to become matched by the one he’s assumed off the field.
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“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.”
Every campaign Campbell has turned in has been better than the last, especially once the Lions moved him back to his natural position of Mike after he spent his rookie year playing Sam. With Lions stalwart and key culture-builder Alex Anzalone no longer leading this Lions linebacking corps, Campbell is going to have to continue that upward trajectory as both a player and leader.
Making him a team captain is a pretty solid indicator of how the Lions feel about his ability to do that.
Campbell got paid this offseason, signing a four-year $81 million extension that made him the second highest-paid off-ball linebacker in football. That, combined with his captain status, has his place in the locker room hierarchy all but cemented .
But he is set on avoiding complacency. Campbell talked about wanting to approach every day with a “rookie mindset”, always trying to find more to learn.
“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.”
There’s more pressure on Campbell to have a big year in 2026 than ever before, given some of the issues behind him in Detroit’s secondary to begin the year. He’ll have to be one of the “sure things” on this defense, and account for much of Detroit’s run defense and blitz production for this secondary to hold up.
That seems like a challenge a guy like him takes head-on. Our first look at Campbell as a captain will be this Sunday when the Lions host the New Orleans Saints.
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