De’Vondre Campbell, LB, Minnesota scouting report

2016 NFL Draft: Scouting report for Minnesota Gophers linebacker De’Vondre Campbell — a big, athletic playmaker. How does his game translate?

How does Minnesota LB De’Vondre Campbell translate to the NFL? He certainly has the speed, size, and range to hang with NFL athletes, but can he diagnose plays well enough? Let’s take a look…

At A Glance

Prospect Video

Scouting Notes

Campbell is an interesting study. At a glance, he doesn’t appear to be the most physical linebacker in the draft. Physically, he’s as gifted as any player at his position. He’s 6-4, 235 pounds with sub-4.6 speed.

He looks comfortable playing any role as a linebacker, whether it’s up close to the line of scrimmage or in space. He doesn’t seem to always diagnose the play very well, so there were a lot of times on tape that he wasn’t overly involved in the play. I think that should change as he moves to the next level.

When you get a guy with this kind of size and speed, you have to know how to use him right. He shouldn’t be constantly playing a zone coverage or waiting eight yards back to see where the play will develop. If I was an NFL coach, I would use him a lot at the line of scrimmage, especially as a blitzer. However, he’s a fluid enough athlete that I would also feel comfortable sticking him on a running back or tight end in coverage and trusting him to get the job done.

He needs coaching on play recognition, but I also see special teams upside here. Personally, I would just like to see a little bit more aggression in his game. This is a guy who was really productive for Minnesota, and I think he has the chance to be a really nice bargain for some NFL team. He doesn’t strike me as an inside thumper, but as an outside linebacker, he can do all the things you want in terms of coverage, blitzing, and playing in space.

He won’t go until day 3, in all likelihood, but he’ll be a nice pickup.