LSU tackle Will Campbell once was the name everyone associated with the Bears early in the draft before he took a ride up the proverbial board on the strength of public opinion.
Now, in the hectic final days prior to the draft, no one can be sure who will wind up where but Campbell still has plenty of good things to say about the Bears and Ben Johnson, whom he visited at Halas Hall earlier.
"It's a great organization, they have a good team—I love their coach, Ben Johnson, great guy," Campbell told reporters in Green Bay Wednesday at the annual Special Olympics football skills clinic held with players who are attending the draft.
One thing Campbell seems fairly certain of is the answer to a big question being asked about him because of his often-reported shorter arms, and that's what position he'll play. Some teams might think of him as a guard because his arms are 32-5/8 inches long.
And if it was the Bears?
"If they drafted me I'd play left tackle," Campbell said.
The arm length thing is pretty old for Campbell by now, especially after he was grilled about it at the combine.
"Yean, I mean it's not exhausting," he told reporters. "I've heard it since I was 14 years old. The school that I just went through, they said the same thing. My coaches, everybody has had a concern with my arm length since I was 14 year old and I got my first offer. I didn't let it become a problem then. I'm not going to now.
"There's some teams that want to play me at guard and I'm are totally willing to do that because I'm a team-guy first. I want to win and I want to win now. I don't want to wait."
The Bears do have a left tackle need, or possible need. Starter Braxton Jones is rehabbing from a broken ankle and is in a contract year. Backup Kiran Amegadjie played only a handful of snaps in his rookie year after missing all offseason work and training camp rehabbing from quad muscle surgery. So they could look for someone in the draft at the position.
Campbell has been mock-drafted most often to New England at No. 4 of late but with rumors of players flying off the board via trades come Thursday, it can't be considered a certainty Campbell would be gone. If it's the Bears who get him, the pairing with Johnson would please Campbell
"He knows what he likes," Campbell said of Johnson, the former Lions offensive coordinator. "They have a powerful offense, you know, (in) Detroit. And I've had some interaction but it's been good so far."
Campbell enjoyed his visit to Halas Hall and talked with offensive line coach Dan Roushar.
"Their offensive line coach, he actually coached my offensive line (grad assistant coach) at LSU when he was at Tulane," Campbell said. "I was familiar with him, I'd met him, I'd met him before."
Roushar was at Tulane in 2023 and 2024 after he was offensive line coach for the Saints.
Bears fans and Caleb Williams might enjoy Campbell's attitude toward his job. He says he's not a lineman who puts up with defenses getting rough with his team's passer.
"Fight for my life to keep you off the ground, you know I'm a quarterback guy," he said of his approach. "I don't let anybody mess with my quarterbacks. You can ask my former quarterback, Jayden Daniels, about that. I don't let anybody mess with him. (Garrett) Nussmeier same thing."
The Bears went through a line reconstruction in free agency by adding center Drew Dalman and guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson. All of their efforts definitely caught Campbell's eye.
"Their work speaks for itself," he said.
