One by one, the Detroit Lions are getting all of their draft picks under contract.
The Lions signed linebacker Jack Campbell, their second of two first-round picks, to a standard four-year contract Tuesday, the fifth member of their eight-player draft class to finalize his deal.
As the 18th pick of the first round, Campbell’s contract is worth $14.722 million and includes a signing bonus of $7,706,912, according to Spotrac.
The Lions made Campbell a surprise pick in the first round last month, though he is expected to play a significant role on defense this fall.
At Iowa, Campbell won the Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker. He led the Hawkeyes with 128 tackles last season and had 13.5 tackles for loss and five interceptions in his four-year career.
Campbell, 6 feet 5 and 249 pounds, played middle linebacker during rookie minicamp and is expected to start alongside Alex Anzalone in the middle of the Lions’ defense, where his length and athleticism should add another dimension to a unit that gave up the most yards in the NFL last season.
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No other off-ball linebackers were taken in the first two rounds.
“Obviously, there’s high expectations of me but everything’s earned,” Campbell said. “All I can do is prepare to the best of my ability and let my talents and everything else take me to where I need to go, and I’m going to do everything I can to put this team in the best position to win games, whatever it goes. But right now, a lot of people have high expectations on me and that’s all good, but I’m just going to stick to what I know, who I am and come out here every day and give it my all.”
The Lions signed three draft picks before the start of rookie minicamp: Third-round pick Hendon Hooker, fifth-rounder Colby Sorsdal and seventh-rounder Antoine Green. Brodric Martin, the team’s second third-round pick, signed last week.
The Lions have three draft picks still unsigned: Top pick Jahmyr Gibbs, the 12th pick of the first round, and second-round choices Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.