Jihaad Campbell was ranked as the 12th-best player in this draft by NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah. He was ranked 14th by The Athletic’s Dane Brugler. Howie Roseman even called Campbell a top-10 player on their board.
So how the heck did Campbell last until pick 31?
It’s pretty simple. There were some injury concerns. But the Eagles trusted their medical staff and their evaluation and pulled the trigger.
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SIGN UP HERE “We do not have any long-term concerns with his health,” Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said shortly after trading up from 32 to 31 to take Campbell.
“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.”
Campbell, 21, had surgery last month to repair a torn labrum in his shoulder. He didn’t get into specifics but Campbell said he suffered the injury during the 2024 season. While he did compete at the Combine, Campbell was unable to take part in the Alabama pro day after surgery.
It seems highly likely that Campbell, an All-SEC linebacker, wouldn’t have made it out of the 20s or perhaps even into the 20s without the injury.
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Campbell was considered by most to be the top linebacker in this draft class and the Eagles also love his upside as a pass rusher. In 2024, Campbell filled up the stat sheet with 117 tackles, 11 1/2 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 3 pass breakups and an interception. Campbell (6-3, 235) is an explosive athlete, a versatile prospect and no-doubt first-round talent without the medical concerns.
In recent years, the Eagles have been able to maximize their picks by finding talent way later than their consensus slot. That happened again with Campbell.
But it wasn’t a shock that they were able to leave the first round with him. Roseman on Thursday night was asked about the notion that Campbell fell to their range.
“I think we get enough information before the draft that we started to feel like it was a possibility in the last few days,” Roseman said. “And so, we had gone through scenarios where he was going to fall. We knew that there was probably a sweet spot that we could try to get up at, and we had done a lot of planning about that, so we understood some of the questions that were going on on him.
“We spent a lot of time with our doctors and our medical staff ensuring that we were all seeing it the same way. Again, we have a lot of confidence in our edge rushers on this team and our inside linebackers on this team, but for us, this we thought was one of the best players in the draft.”
The Eagles, nor Campbell, wanted to put any sort of timetable on his return. But a report surfaced earlier this week that Campbell is expected to be ready for training camp. We’ll see.
Campbell said he’s just taking his recovery from his shoulder injury day-by-day and isn’t looking forward too much. “I’m just really trying to focus on tomorrow,” Campbell said. That’s the right approach for Campbell as he works his way back onto the football field.
The Eagles took a long-term approach on the pick.
“We think this guy's going to be playing a long time for the Philadelphia Eagles,” Roseman said.