Shockingly, There Are Doubts About Workout Warrior Bruce Campbell’s Brain

↵↵Bruce Campbell was probably the sensation of this year’s pre-NFL Draft meat market, compiling eye-popping measureables that set the Internet afire and put Campbell’s name on draft boards. But the prospect of drafting a workout warrior worries Packers fans more than most, thanks to the mistake that was Tony Mandarich, and so the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is doing its due diligence on Campbell, and finding that there’s a healthy amount of skepticism about the Maryland product’s brain.↵

↵↵⇥⇥Over the last few weeks, the Journal Sentinel polled 21 personnel people, asking them who among the top offensive linemen had the best chance to bust. The fact that Campbell led with 12 votes (Anthony Davis had four votes and five others, including Iupati, each had one) can be attributed to a variety of reasons, but mental acuity was cited by four scouts.⇥↵⇥↵⇥⇥“It’s the mental that will get him,” said one personnel director who has been in interviews with Campbell. “When he’s talking he’s not a quick thinker. He’s a slow process, a very slow process guy. Somebody will have to tell him what to do all the time.”⇥↵⇥

↵⇥⇥↵⇥↵⇥⇥Another evaluator said Campbell had a “neurological slowness that’s extremely scary.”⇥...⇥“He might be the most phenomenal physical specimen I’ve ever seen,” one longtime scout said. “But he can’t conceptualize.”⇥↵⇥

↵↵The mountain-without-a-brain isn’t really what NFL coaches and GMs are looking for in left tackles, and it’s also troubling that Campbell had to be brought along slowly in college. Jumping from facing ACC defenses to facing the NFC North’s fearsome front sevens -- remember, the Lions are probably adding either Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy -- is a bit of a stretch.↵↵But there are evaluators who seem blinded by the pretty numbers from time to time, and Campbell plays a position valuable enough that if he’s projected as a Pro Bowler, he’ll have advocates in war rooms saying he’s a good bet. Where Campbell goes may be telling, and may tip the hand on how NFL personnel people weigh brains against brawn.↵

↵↵(HT: SB Nation.)↵

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