Howie Roseman and the Philadelphia Eagles strike again.
Two years ago, Roseman and the Eagles emerged with one of the premier draft classes across the league, featuring the likes of Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, and last season it was managing to land top cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in the first round and later trade up for Cooper DeJean at the top of the second round. Thursday, it was another trade that landed the Eagles another potentially elite defender in the NFL Draft.
Philadelphia Eagles get Jihaad Campbell, One of Their Top Targets
Just as the Kansas City Chiefs, whom the Eagles throttled in Super Bowl LIX, thanks in part to DeJean’s critical interception returned for a touchdown and relentless pressure from Carter and the front-seven, Roseman and the Eagles traded up one spot with the AFC Champions to select Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell.
Afterwards, Roseman revealed exactly why Philadelphia was so aggressive to go and get yet another playmaker for coordinator Vic Fangio’s defense.
“This was a top-10 player on our board,” Roseman told reporters late Thursday night. “We do not have any long-term concerns with his health. We look at the draft as a long-term opportunity for our team. We have a lot of confidence this guy’s going to be here and play at a really high level for a long time.
“When you’re in a draft and you’re picking at the end of the first round, you don’t have an opportunity to get a top-10 player on your board. A guy who can affect the quarterback, a guy who can affect the passing game. For us, it was a no brainer. Local kid, great character. So we were really excited to add him.”
Campbell is widely regarded as one of the premier linebackers in this class, after producing five sacks and 12 tackles for loss as one of the most consistently dominant front-seven defenders in the country.
Now, Roseman and the Eagles are banking on him making an instant impact along on of the most dominant front sevens in the NFL, alongside the likes of Smith, and All-Pro Zack Baun.
“[Defensive Coordinator] Vic [Fangio] does a tremendous job,” Roseman explained. “With getting guys who have pass rush ability to be versatile players like that. I think what’s really fun is that those guys who have that versatility who can go out on the edge and get pressure as a rusher and he’s got speed, he’s got power as an edge rusher, he was trained as an edge rusher. And then, he’s got the versatility to play off the ball and blitz from depth and play in space, in pass coverage, as an off-ball linebacker.
“And so, it’s the things that you can do and keep all these players on the field. So for us, we always want to improve the front seven and we view him as a front seven player who’s got incredible versatility and a skillset to do both those things.”
