The Green Bay Packers are on the cusp of adding a new veteran inside linebacker for the 2021 season.
According to ESPN’s Rob Demovsky, the Packers are bringing in former Atlanta Falcons and Arizona Cardinals starter De’Vondre Campbell and expecting to sign him to their 2021 offseason roster assuming he passes his physical.
Campbell, who turns 28 next month, was a fourth-round draft pick for the Falcons in 2016 and started 54 games over his first four years, amassing 363 total tackles, 18 tackles for loss, three interceptions and five forced fumbles. He also started all 16 games in 2020 for the Cardinals as their weakside linebacker and finished one tackle shy of back-to-back 100-tackle seasons.
The Packers will need to cut someone from their 90-man roster to clear room for Campbell and could look to trim down their ranks at wide receiver with 11 wideouts currently signed for the offseason.
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Campbell Can Offer Packers Veteran Stability
The Packers have been looking to secure a new veteran for the middle of their defense ever since they cut loose former starter Christian Kirksey back in February. While the position group returns two promising second-years in Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin, none of their seven inside linebackers have played more than 500 snaps on defense over their careers with Barnes the only one above 300.
Green Bay did manage to add one new ‘backer, Isaiah McDuffie, in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL draft, but Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst indicated after the final round that the team had originally been looking to take one earlier and would continue to evaluate possible free-agent additions throughout the offseason.
“Inside ‘backer was obviously one of those things that we were hoping to address maybe earlier in the draft. It just didn’t happen to fall that way for us,” Gutekunst said on May 1 following the 2021 NFL draft. “As we move forward, I’ve talked a lot about roster-building being 365 days a year, so we’ll continue to look at that.”
Though nothing is official until Campbell passes his physical and puts pen to paper, the Packers should be gaining a major asset for the weakest position on their defense and a healthy one at that. Unlike Kirksey, who has missed 28 games over the past three years, Campbell has played every game in four consecutive seasons and not missed time since his 2016 rookie year — when he missed four games with an ankle injury and one with a concussion.
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