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Heading into the 2025 NFL season, Jihaad Campbell was one of the most highly anticipated players on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster.
A 6-foot-3, 235-pound force at the linebacker position with a unique ability to impact the game as a pass rusher as well as a pass defender, Campbell overcame offseason surgery to take the field in Week 1 as a starting inside linebacker. But injuries and injury returns forced him out onto the edge, where he’s split time ever since Nakobe Dean returned from PUP.
But how has Campbell fared in this new, hybrid role where he’s rushing sometimes from the edge, rushing sometimes from the second level, and playing coverage snaps all over the front seven? Well, Vic Fangio commented on just that before the Eagles’ Week 11 showdown against the Detroit Lions, noting he’s happy with how the rookie is playing in this new, hybrid role.
“We’re mixing him, he’s playing some outside, playing some inside,” Fangio told reporters. “Totally happy with his play at both spots and thrilled to have him.”
Asked what the learning curve has been like for Campbell to effectively learn a new position halfway through the season, Fangio noted it’s been challenging, as he usually likes to define a rookie’s role early on and lock them into it so they can grow into it.
“There is, particularly when we move him outside. All camp and everything, he was strictly inside because we knew [LB] Nakobe [Dean] going to miss seven games or whatever it was,” Fangio noted. “For a rookie, that’s tough. You’d compare it to last year with [CB] Quinyon [Mitchell], we messed with him at nickel early in the offseason, a little bit of camp. Once we put him at right corner, never moved him. Same thing with [DB] Coop [Cooper DeJean] last year. He was the backup nickel to start because he missed all the camp. Starting dime, and then once we said, ‘Hey, you’re the nickel.’ You don’t want to give a rookie too many extra jobs, but sometimes you’re forced to.”
Fortunately for Fangio, the Eagles just acquired an absolute monster of an edge rusher in Jaelan Phillips, who already looks like he’s going to be a fixture for the defense for a very long time, so Campbell may not need to rush as often from outside as in weeks prior. With Nakobe Dean back, the Eagles could play more 4-3 base with three standup linebackers instead of a five-man front, or could even experiment with using Baun more as a rusher, allowing Campbell to remain in the inside linebacker role he’s excelled at. While this may be a minor problem, it’s a good one to have, as the Eagles would rather have too many good players than not enough.
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