Three combine LB standouts that should move up the Seahawks board

Seahawks would add a tackling machine with Jack Campbell

The Hawks could opt for a player that fits the old-school linebacker mold like Brian Urlacher (6’4″ 258) or Jack Lambert (6’4″ 220). I’m not saying he’d be as great as those guys, but at 6’5″ and 249 pounds, Jack Campbell looks the part. He played the part pretty well for the Iowa Hawkeyes, as far as that goes. In his junior and senior seasons, he combined for a whopping 265 tackles. Nine of those were for a loss, to which he added two sacks. He picked off two passes in each of those years and broke up six more as a junior. Big 10 teams may have figured out it didn’t pay to throw over the middle, as he only broke up one pass as a senior.

Campbell won the Dick Butkus award as the top linebacker in college, so it’s clear he can play a little. It’s worth noting that he also won the William V. Campbell Award, considered to be the academic version of the Heisman. He shouldn’t have much trouble with an NFL playbook, right? He is regarded as being a great communicator on the field, and god knows the Seahawks could improve in that area.

He wasn’t one of the stars of the combine with a 4.65 40, but he crushed the three-cone drill with a time of 6.74. No other linebacker broke seven seconds. In fact, only one corner and one receiver performed better than Campbell in the drill. That the man can stop, redirect, and start faster than almost anyone else – especially at his size – tells me he can play over the middle. The consensus has him slotted as the third linebacker to be drafted, just ahead of Henley. There’s a very good chance he’d be available for Seattle with pick 52 as well.