Eagles rookie Jihaad Campbell 'has a lot on his plate,' which Campbell calls 'a privilege'

You could understand if training camp practices were a bit of a blur for Eagles first-round pick Jihaad Campbell. One minute, he's lining up at inside linebacker, trying to decipher a run or pass from the offense. Another minute, he's in a two-point stance at the edge of the defensive front, with his mind squarely on attacking the quarterback.

Even his own taskmaster of a defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, admitted the workload is probably a tad heavy for the rookie to handle. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Fangio even said he's "probably a little guilty of putting too much on his plate."

But, as Fangio added, "time is coming, days are disappearing."

And that's why Campbell, who already defied odds by being ready for the start of training camp despite coming back from shoulder surgery, has no time to feel sorry for himself.

The South Jersey native, who played at Alabama, doesn't see the double-major as an excuse to be swimming in his playbook.

"I don’t really look at it as a challenge ... pressure is a privilege," he said. "I guess you could say that. That's the biggest thing overall – is work, work, work. Because if you don't do that then you don’t see no great outcome of it. Progress, not results."

With Campbell, though, one can see both. He's already shown enough progress to get plenty of first-team reps at camp, although an injury to Zack Baun coupled with Nakobe Dean's absence while on PUP has also helped usher Campbell into that spot. And results are there, too, even if they're coming at the expense of some mistakes.

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More than once, Campbell has made the kind of aggressive contact during lighter camp practices that's typically frowned upon, but with rookies, they're often told to make mistakes at 100 miles per hour. For Campbell, that's occasionally meant an offensive player hitting the ground.

Last week, fullback Ben VanSumeren limped off the field after a collision with Campbell had sent him crumbling to the ground. The injury wasn't serious; but VanSumeren missed a couple of practices.

"I think the biggest thing really is I got to keep being mindful of practicing, know how to practice and stuff like that," Campbell said. "I'm doing it, one day at a time."

The Eagles stunned their longtime followers in April when they selected Campbell at 31st overall, trading up one spot to get him. It had become a repeated historical footnote every draft weekend for more than three decades that the franchise hadn't used a first-round pick on an inside linebacker since 1979.

Because Campbell started his career at Alabama as an edge defender, it was assumed by some that the Eagles had to be drafting this kid to move back to edge rusher, because there's no way they'd use a pick that high on an inside linebacker. Those people were both wrong and right at the same time.

If the Eagles didn't see Campbell's potential to be an imposing force on the edge, they probably wouldn't have taken him in the first round. But make no mistake, his prime responsibility right now is being ready to start the season opener next to Baun at inside linebacker while Dean is rehabbing and not expected to be ready.

The edge reps he's getting at practice are far fewer than the ones coming at his main position.

"Yeah, he needs a lot of work at it," Fangio said, describing Campbell's fit as an edge defender in his zone-heavy scheme. "In defense of him, he hadn't been coached up enough to be on the edge and play the way we want to play. So part of that's him being overloaded, part of that's us not getting him ready, which is just a product of lack of time and lack of reps."

Most starters and key role players have sat out the first preseason game under head coach Nick Sirianni, but Campbell could be an exception Thursday night in the preseason opener against the Bengals.

Not only does he need valuable reps but Campbell, who more than a few times in his Tuesday press conference mentioned his shoulder getting right from his March labrum repair, also needs reassurance that his shoulder can handle the punishment. 

So, yeah, there's a lot on his plate.

"It’s not difficult," he insisted, noting his versatility. "I enjoy being that type of player and I just want … to keep on working on my skill set, mentally and physically."

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