Philadelphia Eagles fans have high hopes for linebacker Jihaad Campbell after an impressive rookie season and a bigger role he's going to play on this defense entering the 2026 campaign.
Nakobe Dean has departed for the Las Vegas Raiders after four years in Philly, so that leaves Campbell to join two-time Pro Bowler Zack Baun in the starting lineup at inside linebacker. Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio spoke with NBC Sports Philadelphia's John Clark while attending an event honoring former head coach Dick Vermeil, and Fangio responded to a question about Campbell's bigger role in 2026, but the DC dropped some very concerning news about his young linebacker.
"Well, he’s got to be ready. And we’ve got to do a good job of getting him ready. You know, he is dealing with a shoulder injury. He’s going to miss probably most of the offseason. So, we’re going to have to cram it into him in training camp, and hopefully we have enough work to get that done for him."
Jihaad Campbell is dealing with a shoulder injury
This wouldn't be the first time that Campbell has dealt with a shoulder injury in the NFL. He dropped to the 31st overall pick in last year's NFL Draft because he was dealing with a shoulder injury that kept him out of most of the draft-prep workouts and some of the offseason workouts.
Campbell would go on to make the Eagles' training camp roster on time and was a Week 1 starter in place of Dean, who was dealing with his own injury. In 17 games, Campbell racked up 80 tackles, three pass deflections, two tackles for loss, one quarterback hit, one interception, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He was named to the Pro Football Writers of America's All-Rookie team for 2025.
The 2026 season is expected to be a breakout season for Campbell after a strong start to his career. Not having him for offseason workouts is not ideal, but it's not the end of the world. It appears he will be ready to go to training camp, which is the most important thing.
The injuries, though, is something to monitor throughout his young NFL career. It's part of why Dean is no longer on the team: the Eagles couldn't trust him to stay on the field, so they hope not to go through the same thing with Campbell.
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Philly appears to be in good shape at linebacker, but has been in conversations about potentially going after Patrick Queen, and it might be because of Campbell's injury. This is an offseason storyline to watch out for by the Eagles fan base.