Eagles Rookie No Stranger In The World Of Edge Rushing

PHILADELPHIA – It’s not some strange land rookie Jihaad Campbell is wondering into, playing on the outside as an edge rusher. He’s done it for 80 snaps already this season. His other 300, however, have come at off-ball linebacker.

He was recruited to Alabama as an edge rusher but moved to linebacker and had five sacks from that spot in his final season with the Tide. He still doesn’t have his first pro sack, but, heck, neither do more experienced players like Jalyx Hunt, Josh Uche, and Azeez Ojulari. Campbell may be given a chance to contribute on the outside a bit more with the return of Nakobe Dean.

“Whatever is required for our defense, our team to be the best defense on the field each and every play, I'm all up for it,” said Campbell. “If that's it, so be it. If not? Then it is what it is. We keep on pushing forward, being 1-0 every day and just dominating and doing our job.

“I can provide a lot of different things. A lot of things that the team requires. That's just...there's no individual contractors in our rush game, right? We all play as a whole. We all play as a team. Every time we see a tackle, we all see 11 hats around to the ball. …Whatever that is required for the defense, I'm willing to do every time.”

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The Eagles should be trying everything they can to get Zack Baun, Campbell, and Dean on the field at the same time.

Campbell was developed early on as a linebacker, even though he was drafted with the 31st overall selection as a hybrid-type player who can bounce from edge to linebacker.

“Obviously, we know he has the versatility to potentially be out there (on the edge),” said defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. “All of his work has been at inside other than the packages where we move them up. …At that time, we knew Nakobe was going to miss a good part of the season.”

At 235 pounds, the thinking was that Campbell would need time to grow into an edge rusher’s body, though Nolan Smith is just 240. Still, those five pounds could make a difference for Campbell.

Campbell doesn’t believe there’s much difference between playing edge in college vs. the pros, with just a couple exceptions.

“Of course, there are bigger, stronger bodies in the league now,” he said. “It's more so, like, keep getting immune to the position. Keep on growing, keep on learning. It's a learning game, right?”

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