Jihaad Campbell arrived to training camp this year with a new jersey number \u2014 going from 30 to 11 \u2014 but he isn\u2019t starting fresh.<\/p>\n
The experience Campbell gained as a rookie is paying off as he begins Year 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say it shows up big time just trying to dissect different formations and understanding what the offense is running and what are they trying to get to?\u201d Campbell said on Thursday. \u201cObviously, we have a new offense, so I\u2019m seeing different things this year and it\u2019s looking very great.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing about experience, especially for a linebacker, is just knowing the mental part of the game. Knowing how to dissect, what routes you\u2019re going to expect or what run schemes you\u2019re going to expect and knowing what gap you have or gap exchange you have or knowing which man you have. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell, 22, had a solid rookie season. The Eagles drafted him in the first round at No. 31 overall and he began the 2025 season as a full-time starting linebacker next to Zack Baun in the middle of the Eagles defense.<\/p>\n
Campbell wasn\u2019t playing poorly last season, but halfway through the year he lost his full-time job when Nakobe Dean returned from injury and re-claimed his starting position. That sent Campbell to the bench and even though the Eagles experimented with Campbell playing off the edge, his playing time dwindled.<\/p>\n
Throughout it all, Campbell seemed to have a great attitude.<\/p>\n
And now that Dean is gone \u2014 he signed with the Raiders in free agency \u2014 Campbell is an unquestioned starter once again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like just based on the meeting rooms, he has a full understanding of the defense,\u201d Baun said. \u201cHe can play all the linebacker positions if you need him to and he\u2019s versatile. He\u2019s continuing to work on his body. He looks a lot bigger going into this training camp. That\u2019s cool to see. I\u2019m just glad he\u2019s working hard and knows he\u2019s got some room for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the offseason before his rookie year, Campbell had surgery on his left shoulder. And earlier this offseason, Campbell had surgery on his right shoulder \u2014 he called it a \u201clittle fix-up thing\u201d \u2014 which kept him out for all of the spring workouts.<\/p>\n
Campbell obviously had to rehab this offseason, but he also made an effort to get away a bit for \u201cspiritual grounding\u201d and to get his mind off football. Last year was a grind, going from Alabama to the pre-draft process and then right into his rookie training camp and season.<\/p>\n
Some time away was needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a full offseason where you can have a little reset, self-asses, figure out things you need to work on, not necessarily things that you are great at,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I did in the offseason. Just really self-critiquing, trying to double-down on myself and really understand how can I be the best version of myself and be the best version of a team player as much as I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a rookie, Campbell played in all 17 regular season games and started 10. He ended up with 80 tackles, 2 TFLs, 3 PBUs and a forced fumble. In total, Campbell played 710 defensive snaps but most of them came earlier in the season when Dean was still on the shelf.<\/p>\n
The impact Dean made when he returned last season was undeniable. Even though Dean and Campbell are very different players, Campbell took a lot from Dean in their time together.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, Nakobe Dean is a smart player,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI learned just the details from him. Especially him and the size that he had, he was a detailed guy but also smash mouth football. I loved this game a lot. I definitely learned a lot from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last season, after Dean was back at linebacker, the Eagles still wanted to get Campbell some playing time.<\/p>\n
And because they needed help at edge rusher, the Eagles played Campbell as an outside linebacker a bit. While Vic Fangio on Friday said Campbell will still line up as an overhang player on occasion, his full-time days as an edge rusher are over. In fact, Fangio thinks Campbell\u2019s time on the edge actually set him back a bit as an inside linebacker.<\/p>\n
Does Campbell believe that?<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever Vic says, right?\u201d Campbell answered. \u201cHe\u2019s the big dog. I believe in Vic, Coach Fangio. I believe in his process and how he wants things to look like for this defense. We put all our trust in him and just go out there and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Entering Year 2, Campbell will get to focus on being a full-time starting linebacker and his ceiling is still incredibly high. Campbell is big and athletic and now he has a bit of experience under his belt.<\/p>\n
After missing all of the Eagles\u2019 spring workouts, Campbell has been full-go to start training camp. He has lined up the first two days as the starting middle linebacker next to Baun in this defense. It\u2019s a spot he\u2019s expected to have going forward.<\/p>\n
Aside from the added experience under his belt, the other big change for Campbell this training camp is on his back. He\u2019s wearing No. 11 after wearing No. 30 as a rookie.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been hearing it a lot \u2014 we can leave the A.J. [Brown] thing out of it,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cIt\u2019s nothing towards him at all. I wore it in high school and college and I just wanted to wear it in the NFL.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jihaad Campbell arrived to training camp this year with a new jersey number \u2014 going from 30 to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6107,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-257197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-eagles-blog","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}