Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell have the potential to become a special linebacker duo in 2025 and we already saw signs of that in Week 1.<\/p>\n
Heck, we saw it all on one drive.<\/p>\n
After the Eagles\u2019 defense had given up points to the Cowboys on their first four drives in their eventual 24-20 win, Vic Fangio\u2019s unit desperately needed a stop in the third quarter. And that\u2019s when Baun and Campbell flashed their abilities multiple times.<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s the rookie Campbell about 30 yards downfield in perfect coverage on tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they motioned from 2×2 to 2×1, I had him vertical and I took him,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cAs Coach Vic say, \u2018Don\u2019t panic when you\u2019re in coverage and you\u2019re swatting at the ball. Just stay calm,\u2019 and that\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not normal for a linebacker, let alone a rookie linebacker, to look this smooth in coverage down the field. But Campbell\u2019s range and length seem to show up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dude is a freak athlete,\u201d Baun said. \u201cHe can cover some ground in the run game, in coverage. No surprise to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few plays later, former Eagles running back Miles Sanders busted a big run that looked like it was going to go 60 yards for the score. But Baun simply chased him down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, that’s a seven-point tackle,\u201d head coach Nick Sirianni said.<\/p>\n
Baun on that play reached a top speed of 20.68 miles per hour, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. Baun\u2019s only regret on the play was that he tried to punch the football out twice. In hindsight, he thinks he should have just tried once with his left hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe play was just hustle,\u201d Baun said. \u201cJust running to the ball like we do in practice all the time. That\u2019s kind of the name of my game is hustle. I\u2019ve done it in my past and I do a lot of conditioning so when I\u2019m in that position, whether it\u2019s the 16th play of the drive or 5th play of the drive, I\u2019m able to do stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell said he sees Baun make those hustle plays in practice all the time. Even when the whistle blows, Baun is constantly running down Saquon Barkley to work on conditioning for a moment exactly like the one that came up on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Campbell expected Baun to make that play.<\/p>\n
\u201cHell yeah. Definitely,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cHe does it in practice. I didn\u2019t expect nothing less in a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not to be outdone by a rookie, Baun made his own incredible play in coverage on the drive too. This time he carried starting tight end Jake Ferguson up the seam to the goal line.<\/p>\n
Even after an All-Pro season in 2024, Baun pinpointed this as an area he wanted to improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something I really worked on in the offseason,\u201d Baun said. \u201cI had a couple of those opportunities. For a linebacker, it\u2019s few and far between that we\u2019re carrying receivers, tight ends and running backs down the field like that. Last year, I felt like that was a part of my game that I needed to get better at. I did that. And it was cool to showcase that in a game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baun said he was watching Ferguson\u2019s eyes and played through his hands.<\/p>\n
The final play of the drive was a forced fumble. Both Byron Young and Campbell were in on the play, although Campbell got credit. Even if it was Young\u2019s hand that knocked the ball out of Sanders\u2019 hand, Campbell\u2019s hit definitely helped as Quinyon Mitchell scooped it up to give the Eagles the ball back.<\/p>\n
All of these plays from Baun and Campbell happened on the same drive. A crucial drive.<\/p>\n
When asked about having linebackers like Baun and Campbell who can cover downfield, Sirianni remembered his time in Indianapolis with former All-Pro Shaquille Leonard, who was the best linebacker in football for a four-year span before injuries took their toll.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust his length and his speed created a lot of turnovers and passing windows closed really quick and it’s hard to get the shots,\u201d Sirianni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose guys (Baun and Campbell) had some nice plays downfield on some deep shots, on some chunk plays. It forces you to check it down more, it forces the passing lanes to be closed a little bit more. When they have that speed and that length like those guys have, I can’t tell you how many times in practice that happens with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because Baun missed a lot of training camp with a back contusion, he and Campbell didn\u2019t get a ton of time together on the field this summer. But they looked natural playing alongside one another on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Eventually, Nakobe Dean will return from his patellar tendon rehab and the Eagles will have a decision to make about playing time. But, for now, Baun and Campbell are forming a formidable duo.<\/p>\n
It began in Week 1 \u2026 in Campbell\u2019s first NFL game.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuper proud,\u201d Baun said. \u201cI told him before the game if he made some plays, he could wear white laces on his cleats. He gets them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell have the potential to become a special linebacker duo in 2025 and we…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":202237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,81149,1448,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-202236","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-eagles-blog","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115151587500984406","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}