NFL Draft Insider Thinks Bills Could Draft Tremaine Edmunds Replacement

After losing Tremaine Edmunds to the Chicago Bears in free agency, inside linebacker stands out as a need defensively for the Buffalo Bills in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Despite losing middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds to the Chicago Bears on a big four-year, $72 million deal, inside backer has not been a position that the Buffalo Bills addressed this offseason.

Maybe it is because they trust Matt Milano and their other in-house options to make up for the loss of Edmunds, or they are lining up to draft a replacement this April in the NFL Draft. 

NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah has linked the Bills to Iowa inside linebacker Jack Campbell in a recent edition of his "Moving the Sticks" podcast with Bucky Brooks. 

“I’ve had two people telling me this over the last month: ‘Don’t sleep on Jack Campbell to Buffalo at the bottom of the first round,’” Jeremiah said of Campbell. “They lost Tremaine Edmunds - they lost their big, rangy middle linebacker, and that is the big kind of rangy middle linebacker in this class. Do not sleep on him to Buffalo.”

Campbell, at 6-5, 249 pounds, brings a very similar build to Edmunds and, judging by his production with Hawkeyes, could fit in well with the Bills' defense playing alongside the veteran Milano.

Campbell recorded 125 tackles, 5.5 for loss, one sack, and two interceptions last season at Iowa, which capped off an impressive two-year stretch where he totaled 265 tackles, nine for a loss, two sacks, and four interceptions in his final two seasons. 

What makes the linkage between the Bills and Campbell notable is the fact that he has worked out with former five-time All-Pro Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly, who worked under McDermott while in Carolina. But also, Kuechly, as Jeremiah noted, has spent the last two training camps working with Bills' linebackers. 

“Who is Sean McDermott gonna trust more than Luke Kuechly?” Jeremiah asked.

When Jeremiah put it like that, it certainly makes sense. Linebacker can be pointed to as one of the final holes left defensively for Buffalo, but does it outweigh the need at running back for the Bills? 

Maybe not if Bijan Robinson is still on the board. But if he isn't, then Campbell could be a missing piece on a Bills defense that has been stout under McDermott.

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