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PHILADELPHIA − Howie Roseman strikes again.
The Eagles general manager is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers when it comes to the NFL Draft.
That's because the Eagles weren't supposed to be anywhere near Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell where they were picking, at No. 32 and last, in the first round. Campbell, a South Jersey native, was supposed to be taken somewhere in the middle of the first round.
Roseman, in fact, admitted that he tried to trade up with the Packers at No. 23, to get Campbell. And yet, there Campbell was just one pick away at No. 31. So Roseman traded up one spot with the Kansas City Chiefs, making sure no one moved ahead of the Eagles to get him.
EAGLES DRAFT: Trade! Eagles pick Jihaad Campbell in 2025 NFL draft 1st round. Scouting report, how he fits
EAGLES DRAFT TRACKER: Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft picks 2025: Live round-by-round selections, grades
The Eagles gave the Chiefs their pick at No. 32 and one of their four fifth-round picks at No. 164. That's how the Eagles got someone rated among their top-10 prospects at No. 31, and someone who can be the next Micah Parsons − but in reverse.
The Eagles see Campbell as a new breed of defensive player, as an expansion of Parsons. They learned this with Zack Baun last season, when defensive coordinator Vic Fangio converted him from edge rusher to off-ball linebacker.
Baun had been a part-time player as an edge rusher with the Saints before coming to the Eagles. Yet by moving to linebacker, Baun finished with 150 tackles, was selected to the Pro Bowl, named an All Pro, and was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
In Campbell, the Eagles have someone who can do both, within the same set of downs.
"If we start drafting for need, or we start turning down top-10 players when we’re picking in the 30s, it’s not going to be good for our football team," Roseman said.
In order words, the Eagles are drafting players for their potential, then asking questions about where they're going to play later.
Celebrate the Eagles' Super Bowl win with our new book
And yet, getting Campbell appeared especially daunting when Miami's Cam Ward was the only quarterback taken through the first half of the first round. Campbell was still there through the mid-teens. Perhaps teams were scared off by the fact that Campbell had shoulder surgery in March to repair a torn labrum.
It is very possible that Campbell won't be fully recovered in time for training camp in late July. And certainly, both Roseman's and Campbell's cryptic responses indicated that he might not be.
"I’m not going to go into the medical stuff because I don’t do that with any of our players," Roseman said. "I would say, for us, we look at this as a long-term investment, and we think this guy is going to be playing for us for a long time."
So the Eagles hardly saw Campbell's pick as a statement on linebacker Nakobe Dean not being ready for Week 1. Dean tore his patellar tendon during the playoffs in January.
Roseman was insistent that taking Campbell − mind you, the first off-ball linebacker the Eagles have drafted in the first round since Jerry Robinson in 1979 − had nothing to do with Dean's injury.
In fact, Campbell might not technically end the drought because he's also an edge rusher. There's no telling how the Eagles might use him, other than they're going to use him.
Here is where the Eagles envision Campbell as their version of a pair of former Penn State players in Parsons or Abdul Carter − players who started out as off-ball linebackers, then converted to edge rusher.
Parsons, of course, has become a force with the Dallas Cowboys. Carter, meanwhile, was the No. 3 overall pick, taken by the Giants.
"You see his explosiveness and his speed, and really, it's kind of interesting, and we talked about this a lot," Roseman said. "You see Penn State. Give them a lot of credit for what they've done. They've had guys off the ball move to edge rushers."
But whereas Parsons and Carter are exclusively edge rushers in the NFL, Campbell could be just about anywhere. And that could change down-to-down, rotating in at linebacker with Dean and Baun, then going to edge rusher to rotate in with Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Bryce Huff, Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche.
"It's the things that you can do and keep all these players on the field," Roseman said. "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. And the appeal is that he's got this rush skillset."
But there's also an underlying reason to envisioning Campbell serving in both capacities.
The Eagles know the Detroit Lions are coming after them with an array of offensive weapons, as are the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, and the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the AFC.
A defense has to be able to adapt on the fly, with versatile players who can rush the passer one play, or drop back into coverage on the next.
Buy our Eagles commemorative photo pages
"You just look around the league at the teams that we have to get through to get where we want to go," Roseman said. "They have fast explosive quarterbacks, players in their backfield that we've got to bring down at all levels of our defense. We need a tremendous amount of front-seven players to contain those guys.
"It's always been a priority for us. This doesn't deviate what we believe. We believe in affecting the passing game on offense and defense, and this guy can affect the passing game on defense."
And he can affect it from any number of positions.
So don't call Campbell an off-ball linebacker, and don't call him an edge rusher.
"I don't want to put this player in that box," Roseman said. "That's what I'm saying. This guy can grow into anything you want."
Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a new hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Eagles Howie Roseman worked NFL Draft to find next Micah Parsons
Continue reading...
The Eagles general manager is playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers when it comes to the NFL Draft.
That's because the Eagles weren't supposed to be anywhere near Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell where they were picking, at No. 32 and last, in the first round. Campbell, a South Jersey native, was supposed to be taken somewhere in the middle of the first round.
Roseman, in fact, admitted that he tried to trade up with the Packers at No. 23, to get Campbell. And yet, there Campbell was just one pick away at No. 31. So Roseman traded up one spot with the Kansas City Chiefs, making sure no one moved ahead of the Eagles to get him.
EAGLES DRAFT: Trade! Eagles pick Jihaad Campbell in 2025 NFL draft 1st round. Scouting report, how he fits
EAGLES DRAFT TRACKER: Philadelphia Eagles NFL Draft picks 2025: Live round-by-round selections, grades
The Eagles gave the Chiefs their pick at No. 32 and one of their four fifth-round picks at No. 164. That's how the Eagles got someone rated among their top-10 prospects at No. 31, and someone who can be the next Micah Parsons − but in reverse.
The Eagles see Campbell as a new breed of defensive player, as an expansion of Parsons. They learned this with Zack Baun last season, when defensive coordinator Vic Fangio converted him from edge rusher to off-ball linebacker.
Baun had been a part-time player as an edge rusher with the Saints before coming to the Eagles. Yet by moving to linebacker, Baun finished with 150 tackles, was selected to the Pro Bowl, named an All Pro, and was a finalist for Defensive Player of the Year.
In Campbell, the Eagles have someone who can do both, within the same set of downs.
"If we start drafting for need, or we start turning down top-10 players when we’re picking in the 30s, it’s not going to be good for our football team," Roseman said.
In order words, the Eagles are drafting players for their potential, then asking questions about where they're going to play later.
Celebrate the Eagles' Super Bowl win with our new book
And yet, getting Campbell appeared especially daunting when Miami's Cam Ward was the only quarterback taken through the first half of the first round. Campbell was still there through the mid-teens. Perhaps teams were scared off by the fact that Campbell had shoulder surgery in March to repair a torn labrum.
It is very possible that Campbell won't be fully recovered in time for training camp in late July. And certainly, both Roseman's and Campbell's cryptic responses indicated that he might not be.
"I’m not going to go into the medical stuff because I don’t do that with any of our players," Roseman said. "I would say, for us, we look at this as a long-term investment, and we think this guy is going to be playing for us for a long time."
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So the Eagles hardly saw Campbell's pick as a statement on linebacker Nakobe Dean not being ready for Week 1. Dean tore his patellar tendon during the playoffs in January.
Roseman was insistent that taking Campbell − mind you, the first off-ball linebacker the Eagles have drafted in the first round since Jerry Robinson in 1979 − had nothing to do with Dean's injury.
In fact, Campbell might not technically end the drought because he's also an edge rusher. There's no telling how the Eagles might use him, other than they're going to use him.
Here is where the Eagles envision Campbell as their version of a pair of former Penn State players in Parsons or Abdul Carter − players who started out as off-ball linebackers, then converted to edge rusher.
Parsons, of course, has become a force with the Dallas Cowboys. Carter, meanwhile, was the No. 3 overall pick, taken by the Giants.
"You see his explosiveness and his speed, and really, it's kind of interesting, and we talked about this a lot," Roseman said. "You see Penn State. Give them a lot of credit for what they've done. They've had guys off the ball move to edge rushers."
But whereas Parsons and Carter are exclusively edge rushers in the NFL, Campbell could be just about anywhere. And that could change down-to-down, rotating in at linebacker with Dean and Baun, then going to edge rusher to rotate in with Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Bryce Huff, Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche.
"It's the things that you can do and keep all these players on the field," Roseman said. "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. And the appeal is that he's got this rush skillset."
But there's also an underlying reason to envisioning Campbell serving in both capacities.
The Eagles know the Detroit Lions are coming after them with an array of offensive weapons, as are the Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, and the Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in the AFC.
A defense has to be able to adapt on the fly, with versatile players who can rush the passer one play, or drop back into coverage on the next.
Buy our Eagles commemorative photo pages
"You just look around the league at the teams that we have to get through to get where we want to go," Roseman said. "They have fast explosive quarterbacks, players in their backfield that we've got to bring down at all levels of our defense. We need a tremendous amount of front-seven players to contain those guys.
"It's always been a priority for us. This doesn't deviate what we believe. We believe in affecting the passing game on offense and defense, and this guy can affect the passing game on defense."
And he can affect it from any number of positions.
So don't call Campbell an off-ball linebacker, and don't call him an edge rusher.
"I don't want to put this player in that box," Roseman said. "That's what I'm saying. This guy can grow into anything you want."
Contact Martin Frank at [email protected]. Follow on X @Mfranknfl. Read his coverage of the Eagles’ championship season in “Flying High,” a new hardcover coffee-table book from Delaware Online/The News Journal. Details at Fly.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Eagles Howie Roseman worked NFL Draft to find next Micah Parsons
Continue reading...
