Back in the spring, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said first-round pick Jihaad Campbell wouldn’t be able to practice until August.
Surprise!
When the Eagles got back on the field on Wednesday (July 23) for their first practice of training camp, Campbell was out there with them.
And through the first two days of training camp, Campbell has been a limited participant as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery, but he’s already involved in 11-on-11 drills and has looked good.
“It was good to see him out there. I wasn’t expecting him out there,” Fangio said on Thursday morning before firing off a joke. “The trainers had been telling me all spring that it would be at some point in August when he’d be out there. So I’m learning that our trainers like to understate and overachieve so they look good.
“But it was good to get him out there. No. 1, it was just an hour of practice, but no earth shattering news to report yet other than it was good that he was out there and he’s progressing.”
The Eagles moved up one spot to draft Campbell with the No. 31 overall pick out of Alabama in April but knew he was coming off a shoulder surgery. And it seems likely that injury concerns are what dropped him into their range toward the end of the first round. With that in mind, it’s very good news that he was ahead of schedule this summer.
And because Nakobe Dean, who was placed on Active/PUP this week, is still a ways away from returning from a torn patellar tendon, the Eagles might need Campbell to play a significant role early in his NFL career. Through two days of training camp, Jeremiah Trotter Jr. has been lining up next to Zack Baun in the Eagles’ defense but it seems like it’s just a matter of time before Campbell starts getting first-team reps.
The linebacker position has been Fangio’s speciality throughout his long coaching career so Campbell is in good hands with Fangio and linebackers coach Bobby King.
What does Fangio want to see from young linebackers before to know they’re ready for a bigger role?
“Well, at that position in particular, obviously you have to know what to do and how to do it, technique, but the instincts part of it,” Fangio said. “Play recognition, diagnosing things. How quick do you react? That’s very telling at that position and we’ll see how fast he comes along in that area.”
Will Quinyon Mitchell travel?
Quinyon Mitchell had a great rookie season as the Eagles’ 2024 first-round pick and was a starting cornerback from Day 1. But last year, Mitchell played exclusively on the right side, while Darius Slay played on the left.
With Slay’s departure this offseason, Mitchell has lined up at the left cornerback position throughout OTAs and the first couple days of training camp. On Thursday, Fangio explained why.
“Well, if we ever get to the point where we want to match him on his particular receiver, he’s got to know how to play both sides if we want to play him at left or vs. right,” Fangio said. “So we’ll figure that out on a weekly basis.”
Mitchell on Thursday said he has some experience traveling with receivers from his college days at Toledo and said he doesn’t see much of a difference from left to right.
Does Fangio have a philosophy on traveling a corner?
“Yeah, when warranted and there’s two factors,” he said. “One, is there a guy worth doing on the other team worth doing it? And, two, can your guys do it? Because there’s a lot involved with doing it defensively. And I’ve had years in a row where we never did it, then I’ve had years where we did it every week and so again, it’ll be an evolution.”
Hurts putting his stamp on offense
The Eagles have another new offensive coordinator in 2025. Kevin Patullo takes over that role after Kellen Moore, Brian Johnson and Shane Steichen before him since Nick Sirianni became the Eagles’ head coach.
And there will be some differences with the offense this season.
But Jalen Hurts is still the quarterback and as he enters his sixth NFL season as a Super Bowl MVP, Hurts has a little more clout to assert himself and his thoughts as this offense is molded.
“I think those things are earned,” Hurts said. “I think from staff to staff and from coach to coach, that changes and how much they listen. Ultimately, you want to go out there and have a sense of comfort in what you’re doing. You want to be open and embracive of different new things. That’s something I’ve always prided myself in.
“Regardless of what the journey has been or what the circumstance is, I just sit there and have a mentally of being my best self given a situation and being the best that I can be. Just keep working and working and really keep striving to improve and inevitably it will come.”
An important philosophy
The Eagles aren’t facing a lot of drama right now and that’s a really good thing in training camp. Look around the NFL and there are plenty of major contract disputes causing distractions in camps.
Not here.
And that’s because general manager Howie Roseman has done a very good job of getting in front of potential contract squabbles, often extending his cornerstone players long before they reach free agency or even enter lame duck seasons.
“When you talk about culture, and I think that’s a big picture word that a lot of people throw around and it’s hard to really define what that means,” Roseman said on Wednesday. “But I think from our perspective, when people understand that when they start here that they have an opportunity to continue here and get rewarded here, it’s incredibly important so that when you draft guys, you can show them examples.
“If you do the right thing on and off the field, we’re going to make sure that we keep you here and maybe even have a chance to finish your career here.
I think that just from our perspective and everyone’s got to do things their own way. I’m not saying it’s perfect, we make a lot of mistakes, but from our way that’s a core tenant of what we’re trying to do here. We’re trying to draft, develop, sign. When you do that with players, your opportunity to set up continuity, your ability to really set up leaders for your football team going forward, who can show young players the way and how we do things. I think that gives you a chance to be special.”
It seems like a pretty obvious way to handle business but there are plenty of examples around the NFL where that isn’t happening. Just look at the Cowboys right now. They still haven’t paid Micah Parsons yet as the four-time Pro Bowler enters the fifth-year option season of his rookie deal.
Could you imagine Roseman waiting to pay a 26-year-old superstar who is still entering the prime of his career? The Cowboys will likely take care of Parsons eventually, but the Eagles wouldn’t let it get to this. That’s why we’re all expecting a massive contract extension for Jalen Carter next offseason after he plays out his third NFL season.
A new member of the book club
A.J. Brown and Saquon Barkley aren’t the only Eagles players who read books for motivation. You can go ahead and add Nolan Smith to the book club too.
Smith said he likes to go to Barnes & Noble and peruse the aisles to find books that can help him on his journey. This summer, the most meaningful book he read was about resilience. He’s happy he brought the book with him to Philly because he needed it already this summer.
On Thursday, Smith said his goal is to get better by 1% each day but admitted that on Day 1 of camp, he went down 1%.
“I just felt like I had a bad day,” Smith said after Day 2. “There’s days like that, especially when you’re going against an All-Pro tackle. You just have to keep your head down and work. I gotta keep stacking days. Today wasn’t perfect for me neither. Just gotta keep going.”
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