Eagles Rookie Linebacker Emerging From Large Shadow Of Jihaad Campbell

PHILADELPHIA – So much of the focus has been on Jihaad Campbell, which is a normal thing since he is the first-round pick. If it wasn’t for the Alabama linebacker, though, Smael Mondon may be getting more attention.

The Georgia product has had a solid training camp, and he has played well in both preseason games. In Saturday’s loss, he played 33 snaps, which was five more than Campbell. He made four tackles, the same number as Campbell. Mondon made four tackles in 36 snaps in the preseason opener.

Campbell could see Mondon's progress coming.

"He’s a very instinctive player, another great linebacker we have in our room. I couldn’t be more proud of Smael because I know how hard he works, too," he said. "I see it each and every day. Like I said, I’m really proud of him and I love working with him."

Mondon said he saw an improvement in his first preseason game against the Bengals to Saturday's against the Browns, though he is far from satisfied.

"I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a big improvement, because there are still some things I need to work on, but I think I made improvement, I think I took a step in the right direction," he said.

Smael Mondon Made Noteworthy Back-To-Back Plays Vs. Browns

Mondon made back-to-back plays that stood out on Cleveland’s first possession of the second half. The first was him getting off a block to stop Pierre Strong after just two yards.

On the next play, on a third-and-six, the Browns appeared to have a screen pass set up nicely for Strong. Except Mondon sniffed it out and made a nice tackle, wrapping up Strong’s legs and dropping him on the spot for a one-yard loss.

“That was more just playing ball,” said Mondon. “It wasn’t too much to dive into, it was just, ‘Go make a play.’”

The tackle in the run game, after beating a blocker, is something he was more pleased with, because block destruction is something he has been working on since arriving as a fifth-round pick.

“When you get to the NFL, the linemen are a lot better than in college, so being able to get off blocks and not getting pad on pad, trying to get that separation,” he said.

He did that on the run stop. He and assistant linebackers coach Ronell Williams have been working on techniques to beat blocks.

“That was just kind of something that coach Ronell has been preaching to me, being able to use my tools to make plays, just using the tools I have,” he said.

They are tools that should make Mondon a key player either as a starter or reserve at some point on this team. It is a young linebacker room, however, and the tale of Nakobe Dean has yet to be written as he continues to rehab from a patellar tendon tear.

However, the tale of Dean probably ends with him not being re-signed after this season because the Eagles have Zack Baun, Campbell, Jeremiah Trotter, and Mondon, among other talented linebackers who will probably join the practice squad, such as Lance Dixon.

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