De'Vondre Campbell Might Have a Point

For a guy who’s no longer with the Packers, we’ve heard a lot over the past week or so both about and from De’Vondre Campbell.

That, of course, is understandable. When a player leaves a team (or, in this case, has the team leave him), there are bound to be some complicated emotions on both sides. But what stands out about Campbell’s comments online is how specific he gets. He makes it clear he has no problem with the Packers as an organization overall (even if he would have preferred his release be handled differently), but he specifically criticizes how he was used by former Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry.

I don’t have the film chops to really sort out how he may have been used differently in 2022 and 2023 when compared to his All-Pro season in 2021, but we can at least put some data and history to his claims.

First, by alignment, Campbell’s case isn’t that strong. Looking at the 10 different positions Pro Football Focus had him playing when he lined up in the box or on the defensive line, his year-to-year usage is essentially static.

The same is true for his responsibilities. When you’re on the field, you can do one of three things: stop the run, rush the passer, or play coverage. Campbell’s year-to-year usage in those categories is essentially static.

What isn’t static is how well he played. Here are Campbell’s PFF grades for every game he played with the Packers for overall defense (DEF), run defense (RDEF), tackling (TACK), pass rushing (PRUSH), and coverage (COV). The chart below is fully interactable, so you can parse the data a bit and compare different metrics, but the broad takeaway seems to be that Campbell’s grades declined over his time in Green Bay. That’s consistent with what I think is the consensus opinion of his play. It also shows how his injuries may have affected his play. More on the latter point in a moment, but I’ve left blank the games in which he did not play over the past few years.

To picture the decline a little bit more clearly, here is a chart of just Campbell’s overall defensive grades and his four-game trailing average. I’ve taken out the games where he didn’t play so as to not affect the average.

We can see a few things with this chart. First, Campbell was clearly a better-graded player early in his Packers career. That’s obvious every way you look at it: his stats were better, he was healthier, and the Packers’ overall defense was stronger.

But secondly, his decline was not as precipitous as I would have guessed, nor was it as consistent. He rebounded down the stretch in 2022, which is consistent with the Packers’ overall trend on defense in that year, and also finished strong in 2023 (for the games he did play). But you can see where injuries may have been a real driving factor here. He clearly could have individual games where he played well, and he did! It just seems that wear and tear likely sapped some of his effectiveness.

Again, this data won’t give us a full picture of his play; only the tape will do that, and then only in the right context. This data, however, does give us some firm points to consider about his apparent decline in Green Bay.

What about Joe Barry’s scheme?

But that’s not the only thing at play here. In Campbell’s airing of grievances, he specifically mentions a different role the last two years than he had in 2021. On X, he said that was the result of playing more closely to what the coaches wanted in 2022 and 2023 than he did his first year with the Packers:

Listen if I would’ve listened to half the stuff they were telling me I would’ve NEVER went all pro. All year all I heard was “Can you do this? It’ll help the scheme” I kept saying no all year and look what happened. First Team All-Pro 🤷🏿‍♂️.
Fast forward to 2022, 2023 season I tried to be a team guy and play within the system and do what they asked “Be more visual on QB and not look up routes” “Back up from LOS so I’m not pressing every WR or TE” Look at what happened. They had me, Quay out there looking clueless smh 

That’s a notable contrast to what he said about his decision to sign with the Packers in 2021. After he signed the big extension for which he is no longer being paid, he told reporters that his desire to play a specific way led him to the Packers — and to his very successful season:

“Honestly, I don’t really care about other people’s opinions but I just knew what was at stake, so I bet on myself, as I always will. I just felt like I needed to put myself in the best position to succeed, and not where I’m trying to learn three or four different positions at one time, because that’s tough on anybody. I wanted to go somewhere where I just had a simple job responsibility and I was just allowed to play football and be me, and that’s what the Packers told me they would let me do. They kept their word and I kept mine.”

Consider that information in light of what he said regarding playing through injuries, I think we’re starting to get a little bit of a consistent picture here. I don’t want to put words in Campbell’s mouth (correct me if I’m wrong, De’Vondre!), but a sympathetic reading of his version of events seems to go a little like this: Campbell signed with the Packers in 2021 because he wanted to play a specific way. He played that way throughout the 2021 season despite input from coaches that would have led hm in a different direction, but in 2022 and 2023 he changed his playing style to accommodate what coaches wanted. Throughout this, he continually gave input on the defense and tried to change things. Some of his advice was taken and some was not, but in the end, his misuse and an accumulation of injuries led to his decline

Is that the truth? We’ll likely never know, but I think there’s more going on here than just a scorned player. My gripes with Joe Barry are well established, but I’m not the only one who has had them. Other veteran players (Rasul Douglas and Jaire Alexander most notably) reportedly spoke out about their usage in Barry’s defense, and Matt LaFleur expressed his desire (obligation?) to get more involved on defense numerous times throughout the 2023 season. 

Even if there were some injury issues, Barry’s decisions — and, apparently, Campbell’s decision to listen — seems to have been at least a part of Campbell’s decline and departure. The fact that the defense as a whole got better down the stretch in 2022 (weak quarterback slate notwithstanding) and late in 2023 after strong input from big names on defense seems like fairly strong evidence to me.