Campbell recap: On Jackson's ability to reveal secrets, Reader's Week 1 chances and commercial feedback

Allen Park — I try to read each of the comments on every story, as well as every thread in the subscriber chat. Admittedly, there might come a time when there’s too much to keep pace, but right now, staying in tune with the audience is critical to the vision.

Not only am I reading, but I’m regularly responding, especially when there are questions where I can provide answers. When I don’t respond, it’s usually because someone in the community got to it before me or I don’t know. And if I don’t know, it’s not in my nature to pretend I do. That kind of behavior erodes credibility over time.

This morning, in the chat, someone asked how Jonah Jackson joining the Rams this offseason impacted the Week 1 matchup. It’s not necessarily a new topic, given how much annual roster shuffling goes on across the NFL, but Jackson offers a different level of knowledge regarding Detroit’s personnel and scheme, having spent years as a high-level contributor in the system.

Usually, coaches downplay the impact a former player is capable of having as an advancing scouting aid, but instead of regurgitating some of the lines I’d heard before, I brought your question directly to Campbell to get fresh perspective directly from the source.

“We’re aware of it,” Campbell said. “Yeah, Jonah’s got a good grasp on what we’ve done here and what our things are, and we’ve changed a number of things for that, that we feel are important getting ready for this one. But also, we’ve done this before with other players.”

Campbell highlighted one player specifically, former quarterback David Blough, who jumped to division rival Minnesota after being cut ahead of the 2022 season. Realistically, no player is going to have a firmer grasp on schematic concepts than a QB.

Still, Campbell said there’s only so much hand-wringing you can do before you start to overthink these situations.

“We’ll change the name of that, we’ll change this code word, and everything else (you) don’t worry about,” Campbell said. “You’re in the moment, things are flying, bullets are flying, for the defense to start thinking about, ‘What did Jonah tell us?’, we’re not going to overthink this.”

● The original target for DJ Reader's debut was Week 2, but the veteran defensive tackle is making a push to be activated for the opener. That decision won’t come until later in the week, but the team is testing his limits in early practices to see where he’s at, physically.

That’s meant having him work with the scout team, just to get meaningful reps against Detroit’s stellar, starting offensive line.

“(We had him) go against Frank (Ragnow), Graham (Glasgow) and (Kevin) Zeitler, just to get his confidence up — bang away in there and really take it day to day,” Campbell said. “So yes, there’s still a chance. I’ll know more probably after tomorrow than I do right now. He’s doing well.”

Having Reader ready for Sunday would increase Detroit's roster flexibility for the matchup, but if he needs one more week, the team still has veteran Kyle Peko waiting in the wings on the practice squad to backfill some of those missing reps.

● Between his morning press conference and an interview with 97.1-FM before that, Campbell shared his confidence in rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold’s readiness for this moment, despite missing the past couple weeks of practice due to a pectoral injury.

“I think for him, it was more about health,” Campbell told 97.1. “Is he healthy? Is he back from his setback that he had, you know, for a few days there? And he is. Listen, we're going to let him go compete. That's really the plan here. Let's let him go.

"He's gotten better all through camp," Campbell continued. "He really has. He's had significant improvement. Now, this will be first game and I don't think anybody expects it to be perfect. But I do know this, he's going to go out there and compete, and he's going to learn, and he's going to represent himself just fine.”

One thing the Lions like to do with rookies is limit the scope of their responsibilities, which hypothetically allows them to play faster. We saw that with Brian Branch last year. Instead of pushing him too fast, they locked him into the nickel role, where he thrived.

In that vein, I asked Campbell if the team was planning to have their cornerbacks play set sides to reduce what Arnold needs to know. The coach’s answer only further drove home the team’s confidence in the rookie.

“I think that normally does help,” Campbell said. “I would say that we’re not as concerned about that with him and with (Carlton Davis III) CD, for that matter. CD’s played enough to where he can play boundary, or he can play field. But no, I don’t feel like that’s something that we have to do with Arnold. He’s ready to go.”

● Campbell told 97.1 he returned to his office after Tuesday's practice to find his phone flooded with dozens of messages. Perhaps a tongue-in-cheek comment, he said he initially worried someone had died.

Nope, it was only the debut of Campbell's Applebee’s commercial and everyone and their mother had been eager to weigh in.

Campbell acknowledged he’s been reluctant to do things like this in the past, but was talked into some opportunities this offseason by his wife and daughter. He’s taking the gentle ribbing he’s been getting in stride.

“Unfortunately, there’s more to come, I’m afraid,” Campbell said.

Campbell apparently filmed a commercial as a player, when he was with the Dallas Cowboys, but declined to reveal details about that spot. My initial Google and YouTube searches came up empty, but I’m betting one of you can find it.

● Running back Jahmyr Gibbs told reporters Tuesday he’s nearly 100% after missing time this offseason with a hamstring injury. Campbell emphasized the importance of every player, especially one with Gibbs’ elite speed, regularly hitting their top gear on the practice field as an injury preventative.

“When you can run like he runs — I mean this guy can run — then if you don’t touch that speed in practice at least once or twice a day, you set yourself up for something to happen on Sunday,” Campbell explained. “You’re a guy who runs 22 miles an hour. You better touch it (in practice), because if the first time you touch it in a game when someone's coming after you …that’s where bad things happen.

“…I think that’s just the trick is educating him on that and making him do that so that he doesn’t have a setback.”