Lions planning to get Jack Campbell on the field more going forward

After he played 48 snaps over the first two games this season, rookie linebacker Jack Campbell saw a bigger chunk of snaps as an edge rusher in Week 3 and he topped a 50 percent snap share for the first time.

Campbell saw a slight downturn in action during Week 5 against the Carolina Panthers, playing 32 defensive snaps with a 45 percent snap share. He moved to off the ball more, as noted by Justin Rogers of the Detroit News in his film review, but he was sent a blitzer a fair amount.

Overall, Campbell has been pretty good so far as he does things as an edge rusher and blitzer he was not asked to do in college at Iowa. He's just going to have a tough time usurping Alex Anzalone and Derrick Barnes right now, and there have been the expected learning experiences (see the Panthers' touchdown to tight end Tommy Tremble in Week 5).

On Monday, head coach Dan Campbell talked about the rookie who shares his surname.

Lions plan to put more on Jack Campbell's plate

Here's what the head coach said, via Ben Raven of MLive.

"Yeah, look, I think Jack’s about to get a little bit more,” “So, I think with that, more opportunities are going to be more growth for him. He has quiet production and I mean that in a good way. I’m telling you, every week he just gets a little bit better and now we’re playing him in base."

“We weren’t able to play a lot of base the other day, but he’s playing the SAM for us now, a role that wasn’t entirely what we envisioned with him when we got him. But I mean it’s hard to keep him off the field when you feel like he can set an edge, he can rush a little bit, he’s smart, he can cover. But, yet, he’s still a stack-backer for us.”

The third-year head coach reinforced that the first-year linebacker is "right where he needs to be." Five game in, so far pretty much so good with the natural room for growth from a rookie.