Alabama LB Jihaad Campbell Scouting Report | 2025 NFL Draft Analysis - video Dailymotion

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Jihaad Campbell will dominate in the NFL. Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down the draft profile for Alabama LB Jihaad Campbell, a great prospect with tons of potential.

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00:00Jihad Campbell is an athletic freak. Here's why the NFL is obsessed with him.

00:08Ryan, Jihad Campbell is a freakish athlete for a linebacker. Why does the NFL covet

00:14traits like his in draft prospects? Because the game is so much oriented to space now,

00:20right? Like we need guys on the second level that are able to move around the field and do

00:23multiple things. And we'll talk about obviously the strengths of a Jihad Campbell. We're talking

00:28a modern day six foot three, two and 30 plus pound linebacker who can move, who can hold

00:32multiple roles. And in a NFL right now that is so predicated on manipulating space, creating space,

00:39and then manipulating it. Having a guy like Jihad Campbell on the second level that could play on

00:43all three downs and do a lot of different things for defense is so much more valuable in today's

00:48game. I'm such a big Jihad Campbell fan. He's clearly my linebacker one. He's worthy of going

00:55in the first round. It sounds like he can maybe even be a pick that's in the teens because he

00:59tested so well, but you see it on tape how good of an athlete this guy is. There's no questions or

01:04discrepancies there. There is a clear correlation. The thing that I love about him the most though

01:09is he's not just a guy who's a really good athlete who's flying around in space. He uses his burst

01:15and his acceleration as a weapon. He closes down and hits dudes hard. And I love that physical

01:22presence that he brings to the position because he is so aggressive when he hits ball carriers,

01:28and he's able to make some massive hits when he's given the chance.

01:32Well, my favorite thing about Campbell is I think that he is one of the more just,

01:37he's one of the more gifted athletes in his 2025 class at linebacker, and that allows him to do

01:42some really interesting things in coverage. You would not expect a six foot three, 230 plus pound

01:46guy to be able to play in reverse and to be able to cover ground from a coverage perspective like

01:51a Campbell does. But that was one of the biggest impacts, Joe, is that we often see this kind of

01:56body type and you kind of think of a downhill plugger, a downhill striker that they can't

02:00really play in reverse, right? And I actually have less questions of Jihad Campbell in coverage than

02:06I do as a run defender, right? And we'll talk about that and the weaknesses, but this is a

02:09young man that I think early in his career on third downs, he can blitz for multiple spots.

02:14He can play in coverage. He's kind of a third down weapon, I think, especially in his career,

02:18early in his career. Yeah. Former edge recruit who also shows upside as a blitzer, which when

02:23we talk about his background a little bit, I'm sure that that's going to get brought up

02:26the weaknesses though. I know that you're not as fond of his instincts and his decision-making

02:32as I am. I understand that he's not perfect and he's not completely well-rounded in terms of

02:37seeing the field and knowing where to go. But the thing I do like about him is that there's

02:41no hesitation. I feel like he's one of those guys when he makes his decision, he commits to it.

02:45Now he needs to make stronger decisions and maybe guess less, but I'm willing to forego

02:53inconsistent instincts for a guy that is going to fly a hundred miles an hour instead of

02:58pausing throughout a play. Yeah. I don't think that he struggles with his ability to

03:06be aggressive. I think that he's a very aggressive downhill player. I think that he just

03:10guesses a lot to your point, right? I think that he is in the wrong gap a decent amount.

03:15I think that he maybe triggers when he shouldn't trigger and be a little bit more...

03:21Linebacker is such an interesting position because there is a fine line between being aggressive and

03:28being patient, right? And you need that subtle patience to your game. I think Campbell does

03:33lack a little bit of patience as an inside linebacker. I think this kid is one that just

03:36wants to run blitz all the time and he just wants to get downhill and he wants to create havoc in

03:40the backfield. And that's awesome. If that's the spot you're in, if that's the role that you're in,

03:46but ultimately I think there is a level of patience that still needs to come with Jihad

03:50Campbell. I think he needs to guess a little bit less as well. So that patience, if we can really

03:55start to pull him back a little bit, start to let him evaluate and read and react comparatively to

04:01trying to be the aggressor. I do think there's a step up as a run defender. It's just a little

04:05bit of the guesser right now that kind of drives me a little bit crazy on obvious running situations.

04:11Taking a look at his background. So he played at IMG Academy, but he's actually a New Jersey guy.

04:18So he's from the state of New Jersey. He went and played at IMG in Bradenton, Florida.

04:22He was very highly regarded as a recruit. The 21st ranked recruit per the 247 Sports Composite

04:29Ranking. The second ranked edge recruit, as I mentioned earlier, he was recruited as a

04:34pass rusher, not as a linebacker. And he was the third highest ranked recruit in the state of

04:38Florida where he went on to commit to play for Alabama. It's very strange. I know we also often

04:44have the conversations about like recruiting rankings and stuff. And Jihad Campbell has great

04:48recruiting rankings, not on the 247 composite, but just 247 rankings. He was rated as number 16

04:53overall player in the class and number one, uh, number one edge in the 2022 class. But when you

04:59look at that recruiting class, Alabama had the number two ranked recruiting class in the country,

05:03Joe, but like, it didn't end up being that great of a class, man. It's like Ty Simpson,

05:08Elijah Pritchett, Isaiah Bond transferred, obviously Aaron Anderson transferred,

05:13Jeremiah Alexander, Curtis Perry didn't end up being a great overall class for Alabama,

05:18but Jihad Campbell is one of the success stories out of that class. He was number one recruit in

05:22that 2022 cycle for Alabama. And he obviously developed into an all-American linebacker in

05:27his three seasons. The cop that you want to go with is a guy who is a former all pro linebacker.

05:34One time Keith Bullock played at Syracuse, New York guy, six foot three to 35. And he had six

05:40seasons where he registered over a hundred tackles one season back in 2004 for the Tennessee Titans,

05:47where he had 152 total tackles and nine tackles for loss. I mean, he was, he was a menace.

05:54And I think that that, if you can deploy and get that type of production out of Jihad Campbell,

05:58you're getting a very successful player. He was so unique Keith Bullock. And he was one

06:03of my favorite linebackers growing up because he was an outside linebacker and he, he could play

06:08will, he could play Sam and he could reason he could play Sam is because he could play in space

06:12so much. Like he was one of those weird players of like six, three to 35. You wouldn't expect him

06:17to be this great space player, but Tennessee would use him all over the field. And when you use him

06:22in past coverage and he was really good in past coverage overall, cause he ran, I think four,

06:26four, seven coming out of Syracuse, he had a 38 inch bird. So this was a legit

06:30athlete at a bigger size. And I think that if Campbell ends up being a really good football

06:34player in the NFL level, it'll be in a similar vein of a coverage linebacker who develops those

06:39instincts and becomes a downhill presence for a team as well. Folks, let us know in the comments,

06:45what team do you want to see Jihad Campbell play for hit that like button and subscribe.

06:50We'll be back with more.

Alabama LB Jihaad Campbell Scouting Report | 2025 NFL Draft Analysis

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