Eagles May Have Just Found Philadelphia's Next Star

The Philadelphia Eagles had a great night on Thursday as they kicked off the National Football League Draft weekend by selecting Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell with the No. 31 pick in the draft.

There were rumors all throughout the night that the Eagles were trying to trade up. They eventually got the No. 31 pick from the Chiefs and used to to take Campbell. The team shared a sweet clip of general manager Howie Roseman, Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and head coach Nick Sirianni all talking to Campbell. One interesting nugget Lurie shared was that the Eagles had been trying for roughly an hour to make a trade in order to land Campbell.

After the pick, Roseman shared that they viewed Campbell as one of the top 10 prospects in this draft class. That's some pretty high praise. In 2024, he had a career year with Alabama. He racked up 117 total tackles, five sacks, tackles for loss, one interception, two passes defended, one fumble recovery, and two forced fumbles in 13 games. He clearly had an impact week in and week out.

He graded out well in the NFL Combine as well. He had the second-best linebacker production score at 78. He had the third-best linebacker athleticism score at 82 and also had the highest overall score by a linebacker at 82.

Campbell ran a 4.52 40-yard dash, a 1.53 10-yard split, and had a 10'7'' broad jump. ESPN had him as the No. 1 linebacker and No. 19 overall prospect in this draft class. The reason why he likely fell was because of a shoulder injury, but the team clearly wasn't deterred by it.

Last year, the Eagles took Quinyon Mitchell and he was a star in his first year. Campbell is the type of game-breaking talent who can have an immediate impact as well. This is a kid we're going to talk about for years to come. Another great pick from Roseman and company.