We had pretty strong suspicions before, but it’s now clear Aaron Kampman was badly miscast as an outside linebacker with the Green Bay Packers.
Kampman never took to the move from defensive end and had only 3.5 sacks before going down with a torn ACL in game nine, last season.
Kampman signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the offseason, primarily to return to the 4-3 defense and his traditional position. So far, the results have been night and day.
Kampman had 1.5 sacks and six QB hits in the Jaguars season-opening victory over the Denver Broncos and generally looked like his old self, even though he’s less than a year removed from knee surgery.
“The No. 1 thing is that I didn’t put a timetable on my return, because my mindset from the beginning was that this would be something that made me stronger,” Kampman said. “It’s been a tremendous experience, actually; tough, hard, but usually the things that I value in life are hard, so I learned a lot of great lessons through it.”
Perhaps even more impressive is Kampman played all but two defensive snaps in week one. The Packers rotated their linebackers so much last season, that was rarely the case in Green Bay.
The season is young, but Kampman looks like he’s returning to the quarterback sacking machine he was prior to his position switch in Green Bay, and good for him. Kampman was always a class guy and deserves nothing but the best.
It’s just too bad he had to go to Jacksonville to get it.
[ad#totalpackers468x60]