When Za'Darius Smith shocked the NFL world by announcing his retirement after 11 seasons, it left the Philadelphia Eagles in a rough spot at edge rusher.
With Smith gone and Nolan Smith on IR with a triceps injury, the Eagles are looking really thin on the edge, with Jalyx Hunt and Josh Uche borderline locks to start, while free agent addition Azeez Ojulari will rotate in alongside special teamer Patrick Johnson.
But what about Jihaad Campbell, the star rookie linebacker who many thought might transition to edge rusher at least part-time coming out of Alabama? Well, on Monday, head coach Nick Sirianni weighed in on the state of his inside linebackers room, which now features a returning Nakobe Dean, and how that could impact his outside linebacker rotation moving forward.
“Yeah, I think that we have a lot of versatility there and that we have a really good linebacker room altogether. We look at everything. We look at everything that we can do to help our team be as successful as we possibly can. So again, we’ll see. I’m not going to talk through some of those things, obviously. I think you guys respect that with not giving opponents any information or anything like that,” Sirianni told reporters.
“But really excited about the room. Excited to get Nakobe back in there rolling because we know the type of player he is. And Jihaad’s played really well, and [LB] Zack Baun’s played really well, and [LB Jeremiah] Trott[er Jr.]’s done an unbelievable job on special teams. He made an unbelievable tackle in the game the other day at the 20-yard line on kickoff. And [LB] Smael [Mondon]’s done a nice job as well. So, really excited about that group and the things that they bring, both defensively and special teams-wise.”
On paper, the idea of switching Campbell to edge rusher makes sense. Campbell has looked great rushing the passer this season in a sort of Micah Parsons-lite role, and considering the depth at linebacker, the team could remain good off-ball while getting a major boost off the edge.
Unfortunately, however, this isn't Madden, and after watching Campbell play some really good football as a rookie as an inside linebacker, the Eagles will have to think long and hard about potentially limiting that growth in the name of short-term relief at edge rusher that may not materialize. While the Eagles will likely try to use Baun and/or Campbell on the edge more to make up for losing both Smiths, they might just have to make a deal to really shore up the position for the rest of the season.
