The Eagles Just Got VERY EXCITED After Seeing This...

AtoZ Sports

The Philadelphia Eagles drafted LB Jihaad Campbell in the first round, despite his current injury rehabbing for a torn labrum suffered back in March. Over the holiday weekend, Eagles fans saw a video of Campbell working out that made everyone super excited about his timeline. With Nakobe Dean continuing to rehab his torn patellar tendon, could Campbell end up starting in Week 1? Howie Roseman might've found another steal in this year's draft. Today, RB discusses all of this and more!

Transcript

00:00The Philadelphia Eagles could have an issue related to one of their positional groups

00:04dealing with a ton of injuries, but what you are going to see today should have you super

00:09pumped for the upcoming training camp and preseason. And today we'll talk about why

00:14this Eagles rookie could have the same kind of impact that Quinion Mitchell and Cooper DeGene

00:18had last year. We will break it all down and more right here on A to Z Philly, but welcome

00:23into the show. I'm RB. Appreciate everybody for staying with us throughout the entire offseason.

00:30A couple of weeks from training camp and the man of conversation today is no other than

00:35Jihad Campbell. But before we jump into him, I do want to highlight something that is way

00:40more important than the game of football, and that is former Eagles Super Bowl champion Brian

00:45Brayman, who is dealing with a rare cancer that is life threatening. And this is just a really

00:52sad story, but we're all rooting for Brian Brayman. And I guess my point of pointing

00:57this out is just for recognition. They do have a GoFundMe set up. J.J. Watt apparently

01:02donated $10,000. And this is just a really sad story. But Brian Brayman, who actually blocked

01:08the punt in the divisional round game back in 2018 against the Atlanta Falcons and was instrumental

01:14in helping win that game, is unfortunately going through a very tough battle right now.

01:19So just wanted to highlight this Eagles defensive end. That was his last year

01:23played in the NFL. Brian Brayman is dealing with a very tough situation. So we're all rooting for

01:28you, man, and we're praying for you. All right, man, let's talk about the Philadelphia Eagles,

01:34Jihad Campbell. All right, here is a little flashback from a couple weeks ago at OTA's Eagles

01:40mandatory camp. Jihad Campbell was participating in linebacker drills. Now, again, he wasn't doing too

01:48much, but he was moving. He was moving. And then we heard from Vic Fangio, who essentially said that

01:55Jihad Campbell would not see the field most likely until August till we get into the preseason.

02:00Who knows how accurate that is? So we're sitting here and we're thinking about the Eagles linebacker

02:05room. And obviously they bring back the dog in Zach Vaughn, right? The leader who had one of the best

02:11stories we have ever seen. And he gets his big payday. But what people are forgetting to realize is that

02:17N'Kobe Dean probably will not play for the first several weeks of the season. So N'Kobe Dean,

02:23who tore his patellar tendon in the playoffs after having an amazing season, is going to miss some

02:28time. So what do the Eagles do? Well, they continue to shock us. They go against the grain. Not only do

02:34they sign a running back for a couple years, they draft corners in the first round. Now they come out

02:39and they draft a linebacker at the end of the first round. And this guy is an absolute machine.

02:45Is it crazy to say that maybe Jihad Campbell's going under the radar? I mean, if we look at

02:50this guy's college stats last year, 117 combined tackles, by the way, played for Alabama, 12 tackles

02:57for loss, five sacks. In a way, he almost reminds me a little bit of Zach Vaughn. He can rush the

03:03passer. He's a great tackler in the open field. He can drop him back in coverage. There's been a lot

03:08of conversation so far about, is he going to be an off-ball linebacker? Is he going to try to be an

03:12edge rusher? Whatever it is, like this guy can impact the game in multiple ways. He's a hometown

03:18kid. He talked about on draft night, his grandfather being an Eagles fan. I mean, it just, it all comes

03:23together. It sounds pitch perfect, but beyond all of that, right? The, the feel good stuff,

03:29the great story, this guy is an absolute dog. And if he is ready to go for the season, I mean,

03:36the Eagles might have another steal here. I don't want to take anything at all away from

03:40Quinion Mitchell, Cooper DeGene. What they did last year was remarkable. It's not normal to see

03:46two rookies come in like that and play from day one or in a Coop's case come after week five and be

03:52as good as they were. But could Jahad Campbell maybe even be better in the Vic Fangio defense?

03:58Because again, this is exactly the type of piece Vic loves, right? Look at Zach Vaughn last year.

04:03They kind of switch up his position a little bit, right? Kind of get him in a different mindset.

04:07And what does Zach Vaughn do? He goes on to have an all pro season and be one of the leaders of

04:13the defense. So obviously we think that Howie Roseman did it again. Jahad Campbell probably

04:18should have been a top 15, 20 pick. He fell because of the injury. But even if you go back

04:23to last year, Cooper DeGene was dealing with what a broken fibula, I think it was. And the Eagles

04:28drafted him anyway. And he didn't even have a training camp. He got injured and came in during

04:33week five and you saw the type of impact he had. So I think the mindset is changing and

04:38now the Eagles are willing to take that risk on a guy who's dealing with rehabbing an injury

04:43because the talent and the potential is so good. So I think Jahad Campbell is going to

04:49fit right in. But the biggest question mark has been when, when is he going to come back?

04:54And we got a video over the July 4th weekend from SRT Prep Academy and they have Jahad Campbell

05:02working out. And let me tell you something, he looks really good for where he's at. I mean,

05:08this is Jahad Campbell. I didn't even know that he was able to move like this right now,

05:13right? He's coming back from a torn labrum. So, you know, obviously it's not like an Achilles

05:17or an ACL, but I don't know. I mean, he looks like he's moving full speed. This guy is looking

05:22good. If Jahad Campbell and Zach Vaughn are your day one linebackers, boy, I feel really,

05:29really good. I feel good. And again, could there eventually be a situation where there's

05:35an odd man out? Maybe. And unfortunately it kind of feels like it would be N'Kobe, but

05:39that is a good problem to have. Like I said yesterday, it's always a good issue when you

05:44have too many guys vying for the same spot. And I'm just really starting to believe that

05:50the Eagles probably got one of these steals of the first round. Just like last year when we talked

05:54about how the Eagles got, you know, a couple steals of the draft. I think we're going to be

05:59saying the same things come week five, six, seven, eight. Like how did this guy really fall to the end

06:05of the first round? And you saw the Eagles, right? They were trying for an hour to get this guy

06:10and they end up moving one spot to make sure nobody else got him. They had him high on their board.

06:15I think they said like top 10, top 15, and they went out and got it done. So I'm really excited

06:20about Jihad Campbell. And I was checking out this article over on insidetheagles.com and Anthony

06:26Miller talks about Jihad Campbell and his potential role for his rookie year, talks about the success

06:32of Quinion and Coop like we just did. And he says that he could end up playing a bigger role than some

06:37currently think. Bleacher Report writer Matt Holder wrote about the outlook of each 25 first round pick.

06:42Campbell's initial role is competing for the starting linebacker job. Here's what he had

06:47to say. Quote, last year's breakout star and first team all pro selection Zach Vaughn isn't going

06:52anywhere. The defense will likely be missing N'Kobe at least to start the upcoming campaign

06:58as N'Kobe Dean tore a patellar tendon during the playoffs. That creates an opportunity for Campbell

07:04to play right away. Second year pro Jeremiah Trotter Jr. played well in his limited opportunities

07:08last year to provide some competition. Still, the Alabama product is the favorite to win the job.

07:15And the bigger question is if he can play well enough to keep it when Dean returns.

07:19I think he can. I think he can. Maybe I'm being a little delusional here, but

07:23this guy's production in college last year was insane. 117 tackles, 11 and a half tackles for loss,

07:31five sacks, two forced fumbles, two pass breakups, one interception in 13 games.

07:36He came into the draft process as a mid first round pick. His torn labrum injury that he had

07:41surgery on this offseason might have led teams to stray away from him. One guy that was not scared

07:47of going after him, Howie Roseman. It's like Roseman knew Campbell's potential in being a great

07:52run stopper and eventual pass rusher off the edge. So he tried to trade up for him in the draft

07:57multiple picks before the Chiefs caved in and struck a deal. Unfortunately, he has not been able to

08:02make a good first impression at offseason workouts. Vic Fangio initially stated that Campbell would

08:07return by mid August, but Nick Sirianni would not commit to a specific timeline. So really that's

08:12the biggest thing up in the air right now. But like I said last year, Cooper Dejean came in week five

08:17and you saw the impact that he had. Literally Cooper Dejean changed the entire landscape of the

08:22Eagles defense for a rookie. So the Eagles are not shying away from this. Their whole philosophy this

08:27offseason, get younger, continue to build out for the future, set up that window, and maybe

08:33Jahad Campbell can be a part of it. I'm really excited. He says they've had guys like Mitchell

08:38and Jalen Carter who made instant impacts. Campbell is most likely like Cooper Dejean where it might take

08:43it to the midway point of the season for all of it to click. So at the end of the day, man,

08:49when we look at the Philadelphia Eagles, they have so much talent, so much depth, and I still think

08:54they're going to need to add maybe one or two vets depending on how training camp goes preseason.

09:00They might need another guy in the edge rusher room. They might need another guy in the cornerback

09:04room. Just a completely different strategy from the last time the Eagles won the Super Bowl, and I

09:08still think that they can grow and nurture and get better, right? We heard Zach Bond weeks ago say that

09:13the Eagles are ahead of where they were last year at this time, and that's really scary. It really is

09:19because every year in the NFL, things completely drastically change, right? There's different guys

09:25in the room, different team. That's why it's so hard to win and win again because things are

09:31constantly moving, right? Moving parts. So I'm excited to see what happens. They are relying a lot

09:36on these young guys, but Jahad Campbell is one guy I feel very confident in, and weeks into the season,

09:41we might be sitting back saying, man, how did the Eagles really land this guy? So we'll see what

09:47happens, man. But give me your thoughts on Jahad Campbell down below. Do you think he'll be

09:51ready for week one? Will he be the starting linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles? And

09:56can he have a Mitchell-like or a Dejean-like impact this season? Give me your thoughts.

10:01Appreciate everybody for tapping in. Be sure to like, comment, and subscribe. And as always,

10:05I will catch you on the next one.

Category

Transcript

Recommended