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  • It wasn’t all bad for the Eagles. Let’s hand out some 2025 awards and other superlatives.

    It wasn’t all bad for the Eagles. Let’s hand out some 2025 awards and other superlatives.

    It’s awards season, and not just for those in showbiz. The Eagles fell short of a Super Bowl repeat, but they’re still eligible for the next best thing — The Inquirer’s 2025 EEOYAAOS (Eagles end-of-year awards and other superlatives).

    The name is a work-in-progress and subject to change next season. All jokes aside, while the year ended in disappointment for the team, there were bright spots that can serve as sources of encouragement for seasons to come. Here are the winners of this season’s superlatives, unilaterally selected by yours truly:

    Quinyon Mitchell, left, and Cooper DeJean both became All-Pros in 2025.

    Most Valuable Player

    Let’s start this exercise off strong by breaking the rules (that don’t exist). There are two most valuable players on this year’s team, and they’re both on defense: Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.

    Not-so-coincidentally, both second-year cornerbacks were selected to their first All-Pro team and Pro Bowl this year.

    In a short period of time, Mitchell and DeJean have become cornerstones of Vic Fangio’s defense. Mitchell, 24, took on more responsibility within the scheme in his second season. Before the Week 9 bye, the 2024 No. 22 overall pick out of Toledo was often tasked with shadowing the opposing team’s top receiver.

    From Lane Johnson’s worth to a fan base’s anger, here’s what we learned about the 2025 Eagles

    According to Next Gen Stats, going into Week 8, Mitchell had at least 10 man coverage matchups against Tampa Bay’s Emeka Egbuka (16 matchups), the Rams’ Davante Adams (15), Denver’s Courtland Sutton (15), and Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson (11). He conceded 43 receiving yards on four receptions against Sutton, but he held each of the other three receivers to 12 or fewer yards.

    After the bye, Mitchell primarily aligned in the boundary, the short side of the field that typically garners less safety help. He had more passes defensed (9) than receptions allowed (6) across 29 targets and 233 coverage snaps in the boundary, per Next Gen Stats. His 20.7% completion percentage allowed in that alignment was three times lower than the season-long league average from that spot (65.5%).

    DeJean was just as dominant from the slot, an important position in Fangio’s defense that is required to defend the run and pass. He finished the season with a 57.4% completion percentage and 5.9 yards per target from the slot. Both metrics rank below the league averages of 69.5% and 6.8, respectively.

    They had their struggles (and successes) in the wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers, but their bodies of work throughout the year make them worthy recipients of the award.

    If 2025 was his swan song in Philly, Dallas Goedert went out with a bang.

    Offensive Player of the Year

    This award nearly went to DeVonta Smith, but Dallas Goedert gets the slight edge. The 31-year-old tight end was Jalen Hurts’ most trusted receiver in the red zone, hauling in 10 touchdown passes inside the 20-yard line this season. That performance was particularly meaningful given the Eagles’ declining efficiency on the Tush Push.

    Goedert’s 11 receiving touchdowns tied for the most among tight ends in 2025 and set a franchise record at the position. Goedert added two more touchdowns in the wild-card game — one rushing and one receiving — making him the first tight end in NFL history to rush for a touchdown in the playoffs.

    Free-agent moves? Stars moving on? Answering all of the Eagles’ biggest offseason questions

    This isn’t just about his red-zone performance, though. Goedert caught 73.2% of his targets, the most among the Eagles’ top three receivers (including Smith and A.J. Brown). He also started a career-high 15 games, which was particularly impressive coming off of an injury-riddled 2024 season.

    He did not have his best year as a run blocker, although neither did any other player paving the way for Saquon Barkley. Still, it was a career-best year for Goedert in other areas heading into an offseason of uncertainty. He becomes an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year.

    Jordan Davis was a force along the defensive line for the Eagles in 2025.

    Defensive Player of the Year

    Few Eagles players ascended as rapidly as Jordan Davis did this season. In his fourth year with the team, the 6-foot-6, 336-pound defensive tackle became the every-down player the Eagles sought when they drafted him No. 13 overall out of Georgia in 2022.

    Davis played a career-high 61% of the defensive snaps in 2025, his first season playing more than half of them. Unsurprisingly, he was particularly effective against the run. According to Next Gen Stats, Davis notched a career-best 50 run stops, which are tackles in run defense that result in a negative play for the opposing offense. That total was the second-most among defensive linemen.

    He showed some pop as a pass-rusher, too. Davis finished the year with a career-high 4½ sacks. His 22 pressures were a personal best, too, per Next Gen Stats. Davis could be in line for an extension this offseason as he enters the final year of his rookie deal.

    Eagles punter Braden Mann has a strong leg and had a strong year.

    Special Teams Player of the Year

    There’s an argument to be made that Davis and Jalen Carter could share this award given their blocked field goals this season. But the unsung specialist of the season was Braden Mann, the 28-year-old punter. Some might even call him the Mann of the Year.

    Mann, who signed with the Eagles in 2023 after spending the first three years of his career with the New York Jets, had the single best season by an Eagles punter in franchise history. He averaged 49.5 gross yards per punt, bringing his Eagles career average to a franchise-best 49.5.

    In his Week 8 showing against the New York Giants, Mann averaged 57 net yards (subtracting return yardage) per punt, the most in a single game in franchise history. In a year where the Eagles offense punted a lot, Mann did his best to help out the defense and put opposing offenses in poor field position. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the start of the new league year and the Eagles would be wise to bring him back on a new deal.

    Jihaad Campbell is off to an encouraging start to his career.

    Rookie of the Year

    Jihaad Campbell was the Eagles’ top rookie this season. He didn’t have much competition. Safety Drew Mukuba fractured his fibula in Week 12 against the Dallas Cowboys, prematurely ending his up-and-down rookie campaign.

    Ty Robinson, Mac McWilliams, Smael Mondon, Drew Kendall, and Cameron Williams hardly played this year. Kyle McCord and Myles Hinton didn’t play this year.

    Jihaad Campbell reflects on his first season with the Eagles and what’s ahead

    Still, Campbell is a worthy recipient. He fared well as the starting inside linebacker alongside Zack Baun while Nakobe Dean recovered from his torn patellar tendon in his knee to start the season. In Weeks 1-6, Campbell played 94.3% of defensive snaps, then dropped off to 30.7% over the next eight games before Dean’s hamstring injury.

    He flashed potential, especially in coverage. Going into Week 13, he had a 63% completion percentage when targeted, which ranked ninth-lowest rate among linebackers in 2025 (minimum of 15 targets) at the time, per Next Gen Stats. Campbell has plenty of room to grow, with more opportunities on the way in 2026, as Dean is a free agent this offseason.

    Defensive backs coach Christian Parker’s talents have been recognized around the league.

    Assistant Coach of the Year

    It’s a big season for the Eagles defensive backs room at the EEOYAAOS. Christian Parker, the Eagles defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator, is earning his flowers as the team’s assistant coach of the year.

    The 34-year-old assistant has helped Mitchell and DeJean reach great heights in their first two seasons in the league, especially this season in their All-Pro year. Parker also deserves some credit for the improved play of Adoree’ Jackson as the season progressed. The second outside cornerback spot seemed like a concern coming out of training camp, but the competition eventually stabilized as Jackson grew more comfortable in the defense.

    How much longer will Fangio be able to keep Parker around in Philly? Parker is reportedly interviewing with the Dallas Cowboys for their vacant defensive coordinator job.

    Jordan Davis celebrated a touchdown after running back a late fourth quarter blocked field goal against the Rams on Sept. 21.

    Best play

    Few plays brought more juice this season than Davis’ blocked field goal to seal the Eagles’ 33-26 Week 3 win over the Rams. Both Carter and Davis exploited the Rams’ weaknesses in their field goal unit to block a pair of three-point tries in the fourth quarter, but the image of the 6-foot-6, 336-pound Davis returning the loose ball to the end zone as time expired will live on in franchise history.

    The play sustained the Eagles’ dominance over the Rams under Nick Sirianni, bringing their head-to-head record to 4-0 over the last three seasons (including the postseason).

    Honorable mentions for best play include Smith’s backflip catch in the Week 12 loss to Dallas, Barkley’s 48-yard, broken-tackle-filled run against the Washington Commanders in Week 16, and Jalyx Hunt’s pick-6 against the Vikings in Week 7.

    Nolan Smith Jr. and the Eagles emphatically assisted Kenny Pickett and the Raiders to becoming the NFL’s worst team in 2025.

    Best game

    The Eagles offense was a tale of two halves for the majority of the season, making for some uneasy watches. One of the only exceptions was the 31-0 Week 15 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

    In theory, the quality of the opponent should factor into consideration for this award. But the timing of this win is too important to ignore. This resounding victory came on the heels of the Eagles’ three-game losing streak, during which comparisons to the 2023 collapse intensified. The Eagles quelled some doubts by beating up on a bad team, although they ultimately faced the same postseason fate as the 2023 squad.

    Fangio’s defense had never been more dominant. They limited the Raiders to 75 yards of offense, a new single-game franchise low for the Eagles and the fewest allowed by any defense during season at the time. Hurts bounced back from committing five turnovers the week prior in the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. He went 12-for-15 for 175 yards and three touchdowns, earning a near-perfect 154.9 passer rating.

    Tank Bigsby averaged nearly six yards per rush even as the Eagles’ rushing offense struggled at times.

    Biggest surprise

    It took some time, but Tank Bigsby proved to be a solid addition this season. Immediately after Howie Roseman acquired him from the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for 2026 fifth- and sixth-round picks, he began the first four weeks of his Eagles career as a kick returner.

    He wasn’t the right fit for the role. After a couple of muffed kicks, he was removed from the gig. But on offense, he made the most of his scant carries. He 58 rushes for 344 yards and two touchdowns. While the majority of his touches came against bad defenses (i.e. the Giants, Raiders, and Commanders), his 5.9 yards per carry ranked third in the league among running backs with at least 50 runs.

    Bigsby is under contract through 2026, ensuring the Eagles have a solid RB2 option behind Barkley next season.

    Jalen Hurts knows his way around a quote.

    Best quote

    Hurts is known for dropping bits of wisdom in his press conferences. He seems to have sayings for everything, including some of the hottest practices of training camp. After a sweltering practice on July 29, Hurts said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all,” a quote that has been attributed to a variety of prominent figures including U.S. Army general George S. Patton and Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi.

    Perhaps the second-best quote of the season came from Jordan Mailata, regarding another one of Hurts’ aphorisms: “That [stuff] is [freaking] hilarious. Like, how does one think of that?”

    Jordan Davis: fun to cover.

    Best locker room guy

    Davis emerged both on the field and off of it this season. Not only was he dominant as a player in his fourth season, but his infectious personality also uplifted his teammates as he stepped into a leadership role.

    No player was more gregarious in the locker room. Transcribing interviews was typically an exercise in trying to decipher quotes from a cacophony of laughter and yelling in the background, which stemmed from Davis. The 26-year-old defensive tackle earned the Eagles local media corps’ stand-up player of the year award, bestowed upon a player for their accessibility and honesty.

    Plenty of others deserved the distinction, too. Jackson and Zack Baun landed on my ballot, in addition to Davis. Brown, Barkley, Dean, Brandon Graham, and Britain Covey are always insightful in their discussions with the press.

    Best nonhuman source of positivity

    Reggie the dog, the Eagles director of joy. Better luck next year, Positivity Rabbit.

  • Jihaad Campbell reflects on his first season with the Eagles and what’s ahead

    Jihaad Campbell reflects on his first season with the Eagles and what’s ahead

    Jihaad Campbell’s rookie season with the Eagles did not follow a conventional trajectory.

    The first-round pick out of Alabama was touted as a versatile defensive weapon who offered the Eagles the ability to line him up in multiple spots. He could align inside or outside, off the ball or on the ball. Nakobe Dean’s injury rehabilitation, however, meant Campbell worked exclusively inside during training camp and started there next to Zack Baun for the first seven games of the season.

    Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips want to be back with the Eagles, but one has a greater chance than the other

    Then Dean returned, forced himself back into a permanent role, and the Eagles toyed with Campbell on the edge a little more, at a position that lacked depth, before eventually cutting his playing time when reinforcements emerged. Then Campbell was back to starting inside after Dean suffered a hamstring injury in Week 16. Overall, it’s hard to judge how the 21-year-old’s season with the Eagles went.

    “Some adversity points,” Campbell said when asked to summarize his season Monday as the Eagles cleaned out their lockers after their playoff exit. “But when you look back at it, the only thing I can think about is being grateful, being thankful for the opportunities that I learned throughout the season, and just being able to be utilized and be trusted to be on the field.”

    Campbell, who’s from Erial in Camden County, played in all 17 games and started 10 of them. He accumulated 80 tackles and had one interception to go with a fumble recovery and one forced fumble. Pro Football Focus graded him as the 13th-best of 88 linebackers. He excelled in pass coverage and was solid against the run.

    Campbell is embarking on his first real NFL offseason, and it is an important one. He likely will be, as he said, utilized and trusted more next season because Dean is a pending free agent whose return to the Eagles seems unlikely. The Eagles paid Baun a premium price and have Campbell on a rookie deal waiting in the wings to replace Dean.

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    “Just hungry,” Campbell said of his offseason approach. “Of course, I’m going to give myself some grace and relax and get my mind off of things, but stay sharp spiritually, stay sharp physically, stay sharp mentally, and really do what I have to do to be the best absolute version of myself so when I come back I’m making sure that I’m staying on top of everything I have to do.”

    Jihaad Campbell’s fumble recovery against the Bills was one of his highlight reel-worthy moments of 2025.

    Campbell said he wasn’t given specific things to work on from the Eagles’ coaching staff, but he planned to work on “everything.” There were things he learned with the Eagles and from Vic Fangio that he “never really knew.” He learned plenty from Dean, too.

    “That’s a damn good football player,” Campbell said. “I learned a lot from that guy, man, in the run game, blitzes, in the passing game. Really just being a baller, a person who knows football in general. It’s hard to come around guys who really know football and really dissect it in a simple format. That’s what he does, and that’s why he’s one of the best linebackers in the world.”

    Campbell took his midseason demotion in stride. He said in November that his focus was on helping the Eagles win games in whatever way he could and staying prepared for when his number was called. The Eagles needed him to start their final two regular-season games. He was credited with two quarterback pressures in each of those games and had seven tackles vs. Buffalo and 10 vs. Washington.

    Nakobe Dean and Jaelan Phillips want to be back with the Eagles, but one has a greater chance than the other

    How did Campbell handle the ups and downs with ease?

    “I think it’s just all about controlling the things that you can control, and only that,” he said. “I make sure that I come in this building every day with a smile on my face, with a getting-to-work mentality, whatever it is.”

    Jihaad Campbell’s role increased during the latter stages of the season.

    It was unsurprising, then, that Campbell didn’t put himself in a box when asked Monday about his positional future. Nine months ago, the Eagles lauded his ability to be a chess piece at different spots. Where does Campbell see himself long term?

    “I think it’s all about the value and how good you can be at anything you can be put in, whether that’s being an R3 or L3 on kickoff or punt return or any of those things on special teams,” he said. “For me, it’s all about just being trusted and being able to be utilized in this scheme wherever they want me to be at, whether that’s inside linebacker, outside linebacker, just making sure that I’m on top of my things and having continuous improvement.”

    As he did this past season, Campbell seems content to go with the flow.

  • Kevin Patullo on struggles of Eagles offense: ’It never comes down to one thing.’

    Kevin Patullo on struggles of Eagles offense: ’It never comes down to one thing.’

    Kevin Patullo entered Tuesday’s regularly scheduled news conference with the Eagles’ second-half performance against the Buffalo Bills top of mind.

    After a fairly efficient first half in Sunday night’s win, the offense was neutralized, mustering 17 yards on 17 plays in the second.

    The Eagles offensive coordinator said the coaching staff rewatched those 17 plays on the plane ride back to Philadelphia. The coaches went through them again on Monday, then returned to them Tuesday afternoon, all in an effort to get to the root of their issues.

    The common theme in the second half? Those persistent negative plays on early downs. Patullo acknowledged that four of the Eagles’ second-half drives featured inefficient first downs to put them in second-and-long. Those second-and-longs resulted in three third-and-longs.

    Saquon Barkley and the Eagles ground game again struggled to gain momentum against the Bills.

    “When you’re doing that, when that’s happening, it’s going to be very hard to move the ball,” Patullo said.

    Most of those early downs were running plays. Saquon Barkley averaged just 1.75 yards per carry in the second half (three first-down carries, five second-down carries). He had two rushes for negative yardage and two that went for 1 yard each.

    Patullo said in those situations, all the offense needs is a spark. It nearly had one late in the third quarter when Jalen Hurts initially completed a 17-yard pass to DeVonta Smith. After the Bills successfully challenged the ruling, the play was wiped off and the Eagles were back in third-and-long, putting them back in a rut they couldn’t escape.

    “Those are the frustrating pieces that we’re looking at as a staff,” Patullo said. “How do we get out of those? What do we need to do better as a coaching staff? How do we execute better? Because, really, it’s not just one person, one thing, one play style, one call, it’s everything. We’ve got to look at everything. So it never comes down to one thing. But it’s the whole, full picture of everybody working together, making sure we’re on the same page of getting those done.”

    Patullo said there is “something we kind of see a little bit right now” in terms of a fix, but he didn’t expand upon his findings.

    Offensive identity?

    The starting offense may not be able to work out those kinks in a game this week. Nick Sirianni said Monday that he was in the process of deciding whether the Eagles would rest their starters in the season finale against the Washington Commanders, even with the NFC’s No. 2 seed still up for grabs.

    So, if Hurts & Co. are finished with the regular season, what would Patullo consider the personality of the offense after 16 games? And what does he want to lean into heading into the playoffs?

    “I think there’s some things that we’re starting to see now that this is kind of who we want to be going forward,” Patullo said. “It’s kind of popped up as we’ve gone on throughout the season, because we’ve played such different games with different opponents that we’ve had and different styles of defenses. I think there’s certain things that Jalen’s doing a really, really nice job of, and we’ll continue to lean into that and just his exposure to things and experience in the playoffs will really help us going down the long road.”

    The Eagles are going to keep driving you crazy with their passive offense. Get used to it.

    Patullo wasn’t clear or direct in his response. Still, it’s evident that the Eagles want to establish the running game and build passing plays off those looks, whether they’re utilizing under-center runs and play-action passes or run/pass options from the shotgun. The problem is that they’ve been inconsistent in that endeavor, as evidenced by the tale of two halves that characterized Sunday’s performance.

    Neither the stats nor the eye test reflects well on the Eagles offense this season. The Eagles average 5.26 yards per play, the worst clip in the last five seasons under Sirianni. Their 36.7% third-down conversion rate is also the lowest in that span.

    Has the Eagles offense reached its potential? Or is there a chance, with all of its talent, that it can flip the switch in the playoffs?

    “I wouldn’t say there’s a switch,” Patullo said. “I think we’ve just been a little inconsistent. We know we have it in us to do what we need to do, because we’ve done it in spots. That’s what we’ve got to really lean into and press into and be detailed and do what we have to do.”

    Jalen Carter (98) shook off the rust and made a significant impact in the win over the Bills.

    Strong returns for Carter, Campbell

    Sunday’s game marked the return of Jalen Carter and Jihaad Campbell to the lineup after lengthy hiatuses.

    Carter, the 24-year-old defensive tackle, had been sidelined for three weeks while recovering from a pair of shoulder procedures. Campbell, the rookie inside linebacker, started his first game since Week 8 with Nakobe Dean out after hurting his hamstring against the Washington Commanders two weeks ago.

    Both Carter and Campbell had substantial workloads and made the most of them. Carter played 76% of the defensive snaps and posted a sack, a pass breakup, and a blocked extra point, while Campbell played 93% of the snaps and had seven tackles and a fumble recovery. Vic Fangio said Carter “played well” despite the layoff.

    “Really didn’t know how he would play, ’cause he missed three games, I believe,” the defensive coordinator said. “Didn’t practice until this past week, during that time. And I thought he played well. And I think he’s off to a good start. Hopefully he’ll build on that and play good down the stretch here and into the playoffs.”

    Similarly, Fangio spoke highly of Campbell, who could have more opportunities in the season finale.

    “I thought he did good,” Fangio said. “Obviously, there’s plays he’d like to have back and do over. But we don’t get mulligans. But I do think it will help him moving forward if he has to play again this week for Nakobe, and then if he has to be called upon in the playoff game.”

  • Eagles rookie Jihaad Campbell will step back into a familiar role Sunday vs. the Buffalo Bills

    Eagles rookie Jihaad Campbell will step back into a familiar role Sunday vs. the Buffalo Bills

    As Jihaad Campbell’s playing time decreased, his focus on NFL life off the field remained vigilant.

    The rookie first-round pick took a back seat when Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean returned from injury and slid back into his starting role. Dean’s play cut into Campbell’s playing time. By Week 13, his defensive snap count dropped to zero. But off the field, the 21-year-old Campbell kept to a schedule and made “mature decisions,” he said.

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    He went to bed early, made sure to keep up a normal recovery routine, and watched a lot of film, knowing that at any moment his number could be called for an increased role.

    That proverbial tap on the helmet came last Saturday vs. Washington, when Dean went down with a hamstring injury that will keep him out of Sunday’s game in Buffalo and give Campbell his first start in two months. Campbell had six combined tackles in 36 defensive snaps, and two of those tackles were run stops.

    Campbell briefly moonlighted at outside linebacker when the Eagles were missing multiple players. He talked last month, after losing his starting inside job, about keeping the right mindset.

    “The biggest thing is just staying prepared, not getting down, and just understanding the game plan and what has to happen,” he said in November. “So when it is my time to go in the game, I know exactly what I have to do, when I have to do it, with full confidence.”

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    The unwavering off-field focus, Campbell said, comes from his upbringing.

    “It’s just in me,” the Erial, N.J., native said Wednesday. “It’s been instilled in me ever since I’ve been a young kid. I have a great foundation and support system back home.

    “It’s just all about knowing my responsibility, knowing that I have to be accountable for my own actions and what I want to do for my career to come.”

    Jihaad Campbell (right) will start this week at linebacker for the injured Nakobe Dean.

    Campbell’s first NFL season and all that comes with it seems to be coming at warp speed for the 31st pick in April’s draft.

    “I look up now and it’s Week 15, Week 16 of my rookie year,” he said. “It’s moving fast; it’s moving pretty quickly. It’s all about just squeezing the lemon as much as I can in this first year.”

    The team awaiting Campbell in his first start since Oct. 26 will test how much juice he’s produced.

    Running back James Cook leads the NFL in rushing, and Josh Allen is one of the best quarterbacks at using his legs. Buffalo has a dynamic running game that allows Allen some opportunities to use his arm, too. Dean was especially impactful against the run and as a blitzer in recent weeks, and the Eagles likely will need the same out of Campbell on Sunday. He has one quarterback hit and zero sacks on the season.

    “It’s all about what we do,” Campbell said when asked about the challenge of Allen and the Bills.

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    While Dean is out, the Eagles will get Jalen Carter back after he missed the previous three games with shoulder injuries. Carter should provide a boost, even in a limited role. But the Eagles have played some of their best defense of the 2025 season in the weeks after Dean returned.

    It will be on Campbell to help make sure that level of play continues.

    Injury report

    Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson remained off the practice field Friday and will not play Sunday. Dean also was ruled out.

    Landon Dickerson (illness) returned to the practice field Friday and is good to go for Sunday. A.J. Brown also returned to practice after missing time because of a dental procedure. He will play Sunday.

    The Eagles also listed rookie offensive tackle Cameron Williams (shoulder/injured reserve) as questionable. His 21-day practice window is open until next week. The Eagles then will need to decide to end his season or sign him to the active roster.

    The Bills, meanwhile, are a little banged up. They ruled out defensive tackles Jordan Phillips (ankle) and DaQuan Jones (calf), as well as safety Jordan Poyer (hamstring). A defense susceptible to giving up yards on the ground will be down a few contributors.

    Kicker Matt Prater (quad) also is out, while tight ends Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox are questionable with knee injuries.

    Allen was listed as limited with a knee injury on Wednesday and Thursday but was upgraded to a full participant Friday and doesn’t have a game designation entering the weekend. Neither does edge rusher Joey Bosa, who didn’t practice Wednesday and was limited Thursday with a hamstring injury.

  • Eagles rookie Jihaad Campbell sees ‘opportunity’ and the bigger picture in his new role

    Eagles rookie Jihaad Campbell sees ‘opportunity’ and the bigger picture in his new role

    Jihaad Campbell paused briefly in the middle of answering a question last week inside the Eagles’ locker room at the NovaCare Complex. The linebacker was drinking his post-practice smoothie too quickly and needed to take a beat.

    A few weeks ago, Campbell passed protein-packed gummies to a few reporters near his locker stall, playfully offering a snack in a trade for an interview request.

    It is easy to forget sometimes that Campbell, who is playing pretty high-level football and is 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, is still so young. The Eagles might go win another Super Bowl, and Campbell could parade down Broad Street before his first year being able to legally buy alcohol in the U.S. is over.

    Kevin Patullo frustrated with offense’s negative plays vs. Lions; Eagles have Nolan Smith on a snap count

    That Campbell is a 21-year-old rookie is necessary context, considering the topic on the day of his smoothie-induced brain freeze. Since Nakobe Dean has returned to the defense after recovering from a patellar tendon injury, Campbell’s usage has declined.

    On Sunday, Campbell played his lowest number of total snaps (20) and his lowest snap share (34%) of the season. The addition of Jaelan Phillips, too, has meant less need for Campbell, a hybrid inside-outside linebacker, to take snaps along the defensive line. He lined up there just three times Sunday and 17 times in the box as a linebacker, according to Pro Football Focus.

    Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs slips past Jihaad Campbell of the Eagles on Sunday night.

    Compare that to Week 6 — when Dean returned but only as a special-teamer — and the decline in playing time is pretty drastic. That week, in a Thursday night road loss to the New York Giants, Campbell played 45 snaps from the box, 13 along the line, and four at a corner spot. His 62 defensive reps represented 90% of the possible snaps.

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    Campbell has taken it all in stride. If Dean had been healthy at the beginning of the season, perhaps this current rotation, with Campbell being used part time, would have been what happened from the jump.

    Vic Fangio’s defense is new to Campbell, and though he performed well against the run and in coverage during the early weeks, he knows he still has a lot of learning to do.

    “It’s football,” Campbell said. “The opportunity is going to present itself whether I get less snaps or not. It doesn’t matter. What matters is us winning, us executing, us playing together, and, at the end of the day, it’s all about the opportunity.

    “The biggest thing is just staying prepared, not getting down, and just staying prepared, understanding the game plan and what has to happen, so when it is my time to go in the game, I know exactly what I have to do, when I have to do it, with full confidence.”

    The last two weeks, Campbell has been in for about an equal amount of running plays (25) as passing plays (28), and he was in for just one pass-rushing snap in each of the last two games.

    Dean is looking like the player who broke out in a big way in 2024 next to Zack Baun, but Fangio said he wants to continue rotating Campbell in to make sure the rookie is “ready to roll” if he is needed more often. There is a learning curve in all of this, Fangio explained last week, particularly when Campbell is asked to play outside linebacker.

    Linebackers Jihaad Campbell (30) and Zack Baun react after the Eagles stopped the Lions on fourth down in the second quarter Sunday.

    “All camp and everything, he was strictly inside because we knew Nakobe was going to miss seven games or whatever it was,” Fangio said. “For a rookie, that’s tough.”

    Fangio likened it to last season, when the Eagles “messed” with Quinyon Mitchell a little bit during camp. They had the cornerback working at nickel during the early portions of the offseason program and eventually let him settle in as a corner on the right side.

    With Cooper DeJean, they started him as a backup nickel and starting dime cornerback because of the time he missed at the beginning of training camp. Once DeJean was settled in as the starting nickel, he took off.

    “You don’t want to give a rookie too many extra jobs, but sometimes you’re forced to,” Fangio said.

    Jihaad Campbell, Eagles linebacker? It doesn’t seem real for his Birds fan grandfather: ‘Can’t put words to it’

    Fangio said he does whatever is best for the team when asked how he balanced what he puts on Campbell’s plate in a given week. Winning a given game, Fangio said, is more important than taking into consideration Campbell’s long-term development.

    The Eagles traded up a spot to draft Campbell 31st out of Alabama in fear of another team trading into the spot to grab him. They view him as a versatile defender who will be part of the defense for years to come. Dean, it’s worth mentioning, is in the final year of his contract, and it remains to be seen what will happen in the offseason.

    Campbell, a South Jersey native, is so far loving life in the NFL and playing so close to home. Sometimes, he said, he forgets what week on the schedule it is.

    “I’m just like practice, practice, practice, next game,” he said. “Practice, practice, practice, next game.”

    Jihaad Campbell sees his rookie season as “a great opportunity to display my skills and display who I am.”

    Campbell said his confidence keeps “growing and growing” every week, even as his workload during games has changed.

    “A lot of people can view it as a lot,” Campbell said. “But for me it’s like a day-by-day process and understanding what I have to do to attack the day at a high level and execute the plays that I need to and do what I got drafted here for.

    “I truly believe that the situations I’m being put in, it’s a great opportunity to display my skills and display who I am. Of course, there’s learning and growing and different stuff like that, but I think the biggest thing is just me being where my feet are, me getting better with practice and after practice, 500 shots, working on my pass rush, working to continue to be a better linebacker.

    “Just being a complete overachiever, a guy that just loves to work and just loves being around this great group of guys here.

    “At the end of the day, it’s all about getting a win.”

  • Kevin Patullo frustrated with offense’s negative plays vs. Lions; Eagles have Nolan Smith on a snap count

    Kevin Patullo frustrated with offense’s negative plays vs. Lions; Eagles have Nolan Smith on a snap count

    Another week, another lackluster performance from the Eagles offense.

    While the Eagles defense came up with five fourth-down stops against the Detroit Lions — plus Cooper DeJean’s first-quarter interception — the offense didn’t have much to show for it. They scored nine points off those defensive stops (three field goals).

    The Eagles went 1-of-3 in the red zone (33.3%, the offense’s second-worst rate of the season) and 4-of-15 on third down (26.7%, its fourth-worst rate). Kevin Patullo defended Jalen Hurts’ performance (14-of-28 for 135 passing yards) and asserted that the quarterback “played well” and took care of the football during “a difficult kind of game.”

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    When asked for his biggest frustration following the game against the Lions, the Eagles offensive coordinator pointed to a familiar issue for the group — negative plays, of which the offense had five (including a sack), and penalties, six of which came against the offense (not including a delay of game).

    “I think like everything, when you look at the situations we have sometimes, when we’re on track, we do a pretty good job,” Patullo said. “And if we get off track a little bit, whether it’s a negative play or a penalty, that puts us kind of in a hole. We’ve had some trouble with that.

    “It starts with us as a staff to make sure we’re in a good play and we’re executing at a high level and we’re all detailed up. And then if something happens like a penalty, sometimes those happen. We’ve got to be able to overcome that.”

    One of the most eye-catching differences in the passing game between Weeks 10 and 11 was A.J. Brown’s involvement. The 28-year-old receiver went from three targets against the Packers to 11 against the Lions and finished Sunday’s game with seven catches for 49 yards.

    However, Patullo pushed back on the perception that he made a concerted effort to get Brown the ball.

    Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown had seven catches on 11 targets against the Lions.

    “It was really no different,” Patullo said. “I think, really, the plan was pretty much similar to how it was every other game with him, and the ball found him a little bit more, which is great. And he made some critical plays for us when we needed it. Made some really tough catches in traffic, and that’s what he’s awesome [at]. He’s a phenomenal player and did a really good job from that standpoint.”

    Brown indeed made critical plays, including his 11-yard reception in the red zone in the second quarter that picked up a fresh set of downs and helped set up the Eagles’ lone touchdown.

    But in the third quarter, Brown and Hurts also had an uncharacteristic miss on a go ball down the left sideline with Lions cornerback Rock Ya-Sin matched up against him in single coverage. Brown appeared to slow down on the route, which Patullo attributed to his battle down the field with Ya-Sin.

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    “He got kind of tangled up with a DB,” Patullo said. “I’m not so sure he located the ball wholeheartedly. But we’ve just got to continue to find ways to just connect on those kind of things and work on them in practice and really, throughout the history of it, Jalen and A.J. do an unbelievable job of connecting on those kind of things, and we’ll continue to throw them to them because he’s going to do his job and get open, and we usually hit them.”

    Smith’s snaps limited

    The Eagles’ defensive front has been on a tear the last two games, and one of its most important players isn’t even contributing on a full-time basis.

    Nolan Smith has been on a snap limitation, according to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, since he returned from injured reserve for the Eagles’ Week 10 game against the Green Bay Packers. Smith, the 24-year-old edge rusher, has played just 32.3% of the defensive snaps over the last two weeks, down from 75.9% in Weeks 1-3.

    Fangio confirmed Tuesday that the decision to prevent Smith from seeing the field as often isn’t coming from him.

    “You’ll have to speak to [vice president of sports medicine] Tom [Hunekle] about that,” Fangio said Tuesday when asked about Smith’s decrease in snaps. “I don’t know.”

    Eagles edge rusher Nolan Smith (3) has played 32.3% of the defensive snaps over the last two weeks, including on Nov. 10 in Green Bay.

    Smith’s workload increased slightly on Sunday night against the Lions. He played 37.5% of the defensive snaps, up from 27.9% against the Packers. He wasn’t as impactful against Detroit, though, and finished the game without a quarterback pressure for the first time this season, according to Next Gen Stats.

    While Smith may still be working through his triceps injury, the Eagles edge rusher corps has stepped up in his absence, thanks to the addition of Jaelan Phillips. The former Miami Dolphins outside linebacker has led the group in defensive snaps (77.2%) since he joined the team. His 21.3% pressure rate leads all Eagles defensive linemen this season.

    Linebackers rotation

    Don’t expect Fangio to shake up the rotation of linebackers Nakobe Dean and Jihaad Campbell alongside Zack Baun any time soon.

    Nick Sirianni wins in spite of himself, some might say. Those critics are wrong.

    The Eagles defensive coordinator said that rotation will “probably stay similar” going forward.

    “Just because, keep Jihaad in there ready to roll, ’cause he’s the next guy up as an ILB,” Fangio said. “But he’s been getting time, too, at OLB.”

    Dean has taken the majority of those reps at inside linebacker lately. According to Pro Football Focus, Dean took 40 snaps at inside linebacker against the Lions, while Campbell took 17 and just three at outside linebacker. The rookie’s 20 defensive snaps (33.9%) were his fewest of the season.

    Over the last two weeks, Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (right) has 10 tackles (including two for a loss) and two sacks (three quarterback hits total).

    But Dean has rounded quickly into prior form since his return from the physically unable-to-perform list with a knee injury in Week 6. In his last two games, Dean has posted 10 tackles (including two for a loss) and two sacks (three quarterback hits total). Fangio said he hasn’t been surprised by Dean’s immediate impact on the defense.

    “I know he worked really hard in his rehab,” Fangio said. “He was bugging those guys in the training room to come back earlier than they allowed him to. So from that regard, no. Nakobe’s got good instincts, good football acumen. Kind of a football, I don’t want say it comes easy, but it comes natural to him. So that speeds it up, too.”