Packers Take Unusual Approach in Releasing Campbell

Unable to repeat his All-Pro success from 2021, the Green Bay Packers are releasing linebacker De'Vondre Campbell even while creating a hole in the lineup.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers are releasing former All-Pro linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, a source told Packer Central on Sunday afternoon.

Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was the first to report.

Campbell had three years remaining on a five-year contract signed after a blockbuster 2021 campaign. He was due a $6.95 million base salary, $2.9 million roster bonus and $900,000 in workout and per-game bonuses in 2024. All $10.75 million will be wiped off the books.

However, with those three years remaining on the original $15 million signing bonus and additional bonus money due to last year’s restructured contract, the cap savings for 2024 would have been rather minimal at about $2.6 million.

So, the source said, the Packers will make the transaction official when the league-year begins at 3 p.m. (Central) on Wednesday with a June 1 designation. While rather commonplace around the NFL, that’s an unusual tactic for the Packers.

What does it mean? Campbell’s full cap charge of about $14.23 million will remain on the books until June. At that point, the Packers will create about $10.57 million of cap space for 2024 but he’d still count $7.97 million in 2025, according to Nick Korte of OverTheCap.com.

While the release makes sense from a dollars-and-cents perspective, and perhaps even from an on-the-field perspective, it does create a hole in the lineup as the team transitions to new coordinator Jeff Hafley’s 4-3 defense.

“It’s a little thin right now,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said at the Scouting Combine.

Campbell, who will turn 31 in July and was the second-oldest defensive player on the roster, joined the Packers on a one-year contract in 2021. He played beyond anyone’s wildest dreams in earning first-team All-Pro honors.

That season, 30 linebackers had at least 100 tackles. He was the only one who also had at least two sacks, two forced fumbles and two interceptions. He ranked first in that group in missed-tackle percentage and in yards allowed per target in the passing game.

The Packers, who were coming off a 13-4 season and trying to push for the Super Bowl, gambled that Campbell’s blockbuster 2021 wasn’t just a one-year-wonder season and kept him with a five-year, $50 million contract. However, due in part to injuries, Campbell never reached that level of dominance, as illustrated by the numbers showing his production in 16 games in 2021 vs. 24 games in 2022 and 2023.

Tackles: 145 vs. 171.

Solo tackles: 102 vs. 102.

Missed tackles: 4 vs. 21.

Interceptions: 2 vs. 2.

Passes defensed: 5 vs. 4.

Forced fumbles: 2 vs. 0.

Stuffs (tackle at or behind the line vs. the run): 9 vs. 8.

Last year, injuries limited him to 11 games and barely 50 percent playing time. He finished with 75 tackles, zero interceptions, zero forced fumbles, zero sacks, one pass defensed and three tackles for losses. A fourth-round pick by Atlanta in 2016, it was his fewest tackles since his rookie season and the worst of his career in those other categories. Meanwhile, his missed-tackle counts of 11 in 2022 and 10 in 2023 were the highest of his career.

At the Scouting Combine, Gutekunst said he was open to Campbell coming back. Presumably, given Campbell’s release, that meant swallowing a pay cut.

“I’d love to have De’Vondre back,” Gutekunst said at the Scouting Combine. “We’re going through all that, the contract stuff, right now. We’ll kind of see how it all shakes out. Obviously, we just got the cap number. We’re working through some of that stuff, but he’s been an ultimate pro for us, really good player. We’ll kind of see where that goes.”

The release means linebacker is now an enormous need for Green Bay entering free agency and the draft. The schematic change means three linebackers on the field rather than two when it lines up in its base defense.

As it stands, the Packers have only three linebackers under contract: presumptive starters Quay Walker and Isaiah McDuffie and practice-squad player Christian Young. Eric Wilson, a quality backup and top performer on special teams, and special-teamer Kristian Welch will be unrestricted free agents.

“There’s some guys that we’d like to get back,” Gutekunst said. “We’re going to have to add. With the scheme change, we’ll probably have to carry a couple more linebackers into training camp and maybe one or two more through the 53- and 69-man roster(s) as we go through, so we’ll be a little bit more heavy there. We’re going to have to add some numbers.”

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