After grueling rookie season, Lions' Jack Campbell looks primed to take next step

Allen Park — During a 13-month stretch from New Year’s Eve, 2022, until the Detroit Lions’ loss in the NFC Championship game late last January, linebacker Jack Campbell laced up the cleats, strapped on the pads and played in a game 24 times.

That’s a staggering amount of football.

There’s a love-hate component to seeing the field that often in such a short period of time. There’s no secret about the love. Campbell is as passionate about the game as anyone in Detroit’s locker room. He eats, sleeps and drinks his profession, so any time there’s an opportunity to play, you can count on him being first in line.

The hate, he buries, but you can imagine the physical toll that many games takes on the body. It’s like running your first marathon, only with sparring sessions replacing the people handing out cups of water along the route.