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ALLEN PARK — Derrick Barnes and his Detroit Lions teammates are feeling a sense of relief following the latest update on fellow linebacker Jack Campbell, though Barnes still hopes to have a personal conversation with him soon.
Campbell, who was carted off the field with a neck injury during Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 1, released a statement through the team on Wednesday saying he has "full movement in my lower body, and I'm continuing to make progress with movement in my upper body." He added, "I know there's still work ahead, but I remain very optimistic."
Barnes expressed his encouragement: "I love to see his progression. Jack is a strong guy, a strong man, a man of God. I know he's putting a lot of faith into God right now, like he always is. It really gave me a boost of energy to hear that. Like I said, he's one of the strongest people I know. If anybody can get through this, it'd definitely be him."
Campbell went limp after making what appeared to be a routine tackle on Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson early in the fourth quarter of Sunday's win. Teammates knelt around him as medical staff stabilized his neck and placed him on a backboard. He was transported to Henry Ford Hospital. Barnes attempted to visit Campbell at the hospital on Sunday but was unable to do so.
Lions coach Dan Campbell said on Wednesday, "Everybody wants to see Jack. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, just with where it's at." The team met on Wednesday morning to discuss Campbell's situation. Quarterback Jared Goff acknowledged that "it's been hard," but said "Dan hit it right on the head" with his message as the Lions prepare to face the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, Nov. 8.
"It's obviously so much bigger than just football," Goff said. "I think you're happy that things are moving in the right direction, but yeah, there's still certainly some emotion attached to it, how scary it was and whatnot. I think the best thing we can do is play how he would want us to play and kind of honor him in that way. I know he doesn't want any attention, he doesn't want any fanfare. He just wants us to go out there and handle our business, and that's what we plan to do."
Malcolm Rodriguez described his reaction to the update as a "sigh of relief." Barnes and Rodriguez cried together in the locker room at Ford Field after Sunday's game, once the adrenaline wore off and the gravity of Campbell's injury fully hit them.
"It's a lot that goes through your mind," Rodriguez said. "At the moment, you're like, 'Jack, get up, get up.' Thinking about his family, Megan (Campbell's wife) and Coop (Campbell's four-month-old son). I just put myself in that position, what they're going through. It definitely hit us after the game. I spent my night hugging my family."
Barnes added, "That really hit me because it's like, man, no way that happened to someone like that, a man who is selfless. He is like the most selfless person ever. He puts everybody before himself all the time, makes sure everybody is good before himself. For something like that to happen to somebody like that, it's really devastating. It hits harder when it's somebody like him."
A teammate of Campbell's for the last four seasons, Barnes said seeing him get hurt has been the hardest challenge of his career. Several Lions players said the sobering situation put things into perspective. Barnes went home after the game and told his two-year-old son, Trey, that he'd rather him not play football when he gets older.
"We can have a long conversation," Barnes said of the eventual talk he'll have with Trey. "I'll tell you the great things about it and the down things about it, and you'll make that decision if you really want to."
An official diagnosis for Campbell or a timeline for recovery has not yet been shared by the Lions or Campbell. In his statement, Campbell asked fans to "continue to keep me and my family in your prayers. We feel the love, and I can't thank everyone enough."
"When you spend almost every day of the year with a guy, around him literally every day, it hits different. When you become very close with a person and anything like this happens, obviously you're concerned and you're worried," Barnes said. "But you know deep down in your heart, put your faith into God and know that God has it. I truly believe that he'll get back to where he started."
Originally reported by yahoo.