PHLY Philadelphia Eagles Podcast - Mina Kimes LOVES what Jihaad Campbell brings to the Eagles defense

Episode Date: July 24, 2025

Mina Kimes of ESPN joined the PHLY Eagles show to discuss why she loved Jihaad Campbell as a draft prospect, what he brings to Vic Fangio's defense and how he might be used. She also explains how Jalen Hurts can improve, whether the offense or defense concerns her more heading into the season and a lot more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Now it's time. We can welcome to the show from ESPN and the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny. Mina Kimes joins us. We're just thrilled about this. So thank you again for doing it. And you said it. Jahad Campbell. This was like one of your pre-draft crushes.

So this is a huge piece of good news for the Eagles today. We feel like the best possible football news they could have got today was that he is this far ahead of schedule. Signs seem to be pointing to very early. like he will be ready week one. Why did you love Jahan Campbell so much in the pre-draft process? Yeah. A lot of reasons. Let me count the ways.

I did a defensive, like I kind of previewed all the first rounders ahead of the draft. So long before the Eagles drafted him. And I expressed kind of my journey with him or I guess with this draft in general. I was watching all the players and there were guys I liked. And there were certainly Abdul Carter made sense as a top edge overall. But I didn't really have that feeling of watching a prospect and falling in love. And the player that I think I've said this at the time that I always go back to is the first time I watched Kyle Hamilton in Notre Dame. And then I got to Jihad Campbell.

I think I got to linebackers at the end. And it was like the first moment where I had that feeling. I was like, oh, wow. This is, this is a guy, like this is a dude. And I'm so excited to watch him in the NFL. I'm so excited to see how he's used. Whoever is getting him is going to get an absolute steal. And naturally, of course, when he fell to.

with Eagles, I said, of course, of course. There's just so many things about his game that I really like. The athleticism is the first thing that pops. The first step as a pass rusher, which, of course, is where he started. His career, he's so explosive. He has, like, true sideline to sideline range. The instincts, I think, are really outstanding. Having made a positional change, I think there's going to be a little bit of an adjustment

period for them. You saw that a little bit on tape in terms of diagnosing the run. He would get kind of fooled at times by misdirectors. but I really believe he has all of the tools as well as the physical attributes in terms of speed, size, wingspan, all of that to be one of the best softball linebackers in the NFL. So to see him land, not just with the Eagles and to get to play next to the backers you have, but to land with Vic Fangio, just absolute dream for him and for me as a fan of the player. And it is almost like the ideal version of Jahad Campbell is what Zach Bond was last year, right? And so to have the two of them together now for Vic to be able to play with and not necessarily give things away pre-snap and both of these guys can sort of do it all, it is a little bit of like a, like, man, we're giving this magician even more tools that, you know, he can use. Yeah, Bond's a little bit of proof of concept for him in some ways.

And, you know, not exactly identical as players, but I do think some of the same attributes there, of course, Bond, too, with the pass rush background and, And Vic sometimes deploys him that way. But just having a player who you want, when I thought about Campbell and how I wanted him to be used in the NFL, I did think a lot about the way they used Zach Bond, the versatility, using him on the minus scrimmage with those six-man fronts, how, you know, he was really the straw that stirred the drink in that defense. And it's such a great, from a roster construction,

I love the veteran linebacker with the young backer, because it's such a hard position. And there is an adjustment period, you know, for rookies. we have seen time and time again, which is why I went ahead of the off season. Zach Bonn was the one player. I thought they got to re-sign, right? Because the Eagles obviously had a lot of difficult decisions

to make on defense. But I thought you can't count on a rookie coming in and taking this role. N'Cobi has his health issues. You got to keep Zach Bonn. You keep Zach Bonn. And now you have the rookie. I love that sort of build for the team.

And I love the idea of them playing together. And it's just so counter to the way that Howie has built things before. And so you can tell that it is a Vic influence. that this is how he wants the team to be built sort of from back to front a little more. Yeah, and that's what I was curious about from your perspective, Mina, because you spoke about him as an offball linebacker,

but also having that ability to play on the line and since six-man fronts. And I remember watching you leading up to the draft, and you thought similarly to us that the Eagles would look at the line of scrimmage in the first round. That seems to be their history. And after the Eagles drafted him, there was a lot of conversation, including on this show,

are they going to move him to edge rusher? is this going to be a Micah Parsons-like situation? I know year one could be different than year three. But as you project out, Jahad Campbell, do you see him being a Zach Bond-like player where he excels off ball? Or do you think ultimately, I hate comparing anyone to Michael Parsons,

but he makes that transition to more of a pass rusher? I would play him off the ball. I think early on, you know, you use him in a variety of ways and how he plays or how he has used his rookie season might not, Agarhowie's use the rest of his career. I think the best version of him is as an offball linebacker. He's a good pass rusher. But I don't, certainly from like a, in a lot of ways, he's not Michael Parsons, you know.

Very few humans on earth are Michael Parsons. And I think because of the potential for coverage ability, you really saw it on tape at times. He's got great wingspan. I think I talked about the instincts. That's going to get better and better. I think, you know, playing the run sometimes at times, because it's just like a little bit slow, but once he arrived,

the knockback ability, the power, I think he's a really good tackler. It's all there. He has all the pieces it takes, honestly, to be like a really, really like elite, I think an elite off ball linebacker. That said, you talked about it. You know, I thought they would go line of scrimmage.

I think Q's just the best player available. I agreed with that, obviously. But at that point, you know, looking at the defensive. Lyman available in the draft. There was nobody who compared to him, in my opinion. And this way, you know, if you start the season and maybe like Hunt isn't quite the guy you thought you hoped he would be, maybe Dolan Smith regresses, it's like, okay, we can use

him to add to the pass rush. He brings us that flexibility because it is something that is in his bag. And I do think, you know, part of the reason that they would have been willing to trade up for him to 24 is that. And you just think about Howie. And it's like somebody told how much. in the room like, hey, he could always be an edge rusher if we want. It's like, okay, fine.

I'll trade up for him. Okay, I mean, I want to sort of level set your expectations for the season. But first, I do want to ask, you are married into an Eagles family, correct? Yeah, true. So how often are the in-laws bothering you about, like, where you ranked Jalen Hertz and the quarterback rankings? I didn't rank him. I think I've managed to evade being pinned down on quarterback rankings.

I did a pod where we had a draft. So, you know, that's a two-person job. Much different, yeah. My in-laws are like true WIP listener, like, wanted, Nick's fired million times, and now are completely angry at anyone who daresets says he's anything other than a top five head coach. Like, they are the prototypical Eagles fans. My kid, unfortunately, has a ton of Eagles apparel that's been given. to him. They've really, fortunately for him,

we got to get him some PHLY gear. Yeah, get please. He's big now. But yeah, so I think I've avoided the shows because this has been, of course, the big talking point. I feel like on every ESPN show the last week. Fortunately

for me, it's not really what we do on NFL Live. We're not ranking. So I get to evade as I am doing now. And what is your big picture, Jalen, not where he ranks among the rest of the league, but one of the ways in which you would like to see him take another step if there is one for him to take.

Yeah. I mean, I think just consistency is the first thing that comes to mind. Can he be the guy throughout the entire season that we saw in the Super Bowl? That we've seen in every Super Bowl he's played in, right? I'm sure you guys would agree. I mean, I know everybody kind of only remembers the last football game that they watched these days,

but there were ups and downs the season. Of course, there were reasons for that, injuries, AJ Brown's absence was tremendous and I think understated, perhaps, when we talk about this team and we think about them. That's the player where I'm like, maybe Lane Johnson, but like, you really can't lose AJ Brown. But that's a whole conversation. So you just want to see more consistency. You know, he's continued to develop every year, not just in the NFL, but his college career as well. That's kind of his calling card as a football player and what makes him so great.

You know, I think the change in play caller obviously brings about. set of questions, but not massive ones, given the continuity on offense. So you just, you know, my thing is with Jalen Hertz is just, okay, cool. Like if he plays at the level he played in the Super Bowl throughout the course of the season, there's no debate about where he belongs in terms of quarterback tiers. You just got to see it. I'm curious, a big point of discussion here internally with the Eagles is how to, I don't want to say repeat, but respond to a Super Bowl winning season, right?

And, you know, you saw this firsthand with Seattle going from, you know, 2013 and 2014, and they were so close to repeating. And, I mean, no disrespect to Jowen. But, you know, if you don't have Patrick Mahomes and Tom Brady, it's, it's been hard historically to win those back-to-back years. He's probably more comparable to Russell Wilson at this stage of his career than a Patrick Mahomes. So from your observation, what type of obstacles do the Eagles have right now trying to get back to the Super Bowl? outside of the fact that it's obviously hard to win a Super Bowl. Yeah, I would say it's as much of a challenge for the front office as it is for the coaching staff and the players because when we think about these dynastic runs and we look at the teams that have had success year of year,

the two pieces in place seem to be either the quarterback who can win and elevate regardless, and then a front office that's good at replacing talent loss. You know, when you're a good team and a hard-capped league, you're going to lose players and you had to be able to rebuild and reinforce and add depth and something obviously the Eagles have been extraordinary at drafting. Can that continue? Because we talked about this at the top. You are leaning on now your defensive line depth.

That's probably the biggest question of the entire roster, right? Can some of those young players who looked good in smaller samples, particularly towards the end of the season, step up, a Juma? I'm saying, Jemma, right? This is a very interesting thing. And we kind of need to do like a Pablo Tore style, deep dive into this because it's been a different pronunciation guide each year of his career. Is it? Yes. It was, he has a jo-mo. And then it was a jama. And then very recently,

it's, it's changed to Ojima. Oh, goodness. I like it when teams do the, they have the players do their own pronunciation on the player guy and you just click on the website. That's the best way to do it. But anyways, he looked phenomenal, but in a very small sample size, right? So like, what are we going to get out of him? What are we going to get at a hunt? You know, the quarterback position opposite Mitchell on the outside, of course, with Ringo. That's a question mark as well. And then I think offensively, it's less about drafting and there, although, you know, there's a competition to guard and more just about depth and injury.

These Eagles have played a lot of football. People always ask about the 49ers, why they have so many injuries. And, you know, does it have anything to do with Kyle Shanahan and the perhaps, right? But a lot of it is just because they play so much football. It's hard. Lions have suffered that, too. And while the Eagles offense is tremendous and obviously it's like a number, all-star team, it's not deep at a few positions. And I think that would be the biggest challenge

to me is if you lose an AJ or Elaine Johnson are probably the two players that would put at the top where you start to worry about the depth behind them. And so as you think about that and as we think about the Eagles heading into the season, this offense that is star-studded and probably over the course of the regular season underachieved a little bit last year versus the defense, which surprisingly turned out to be probably the best defense in football. Which side are you a little bit more worried about. It's interesting because the defense is mitigated to some degree by Vic Fangio and the fact that you have stars at really important positions.

But I would have to say the defense regardless. I mean, that's a lot of snaps walking out the door. And you're counting on young players to step up. McCuba wins a safety job. Another player I really liked, you know, if Campbell has to play, brushing the passer, you know, feel like they really landed on something there with Smith next to Carter. And that's great. Can he build on that?

but also, you know, opposite him, also on the inside, just questions. I think this will be good. And it's a complimentary sport, so they're going to be put in a good position, I think, because of the offense continuing to be dominant. But, you know, there are questions on that side of the ball. What's your expectation for the offense this year? Do you anticipate another year of Saquan, you know, being kind of the centerpiece of that offense,

or do you think this goes back to more jail and throwing to AJ Devon? I think it'll be exactly the same, which is you dial in on one and they'll punish you the other way, right? That's the thing about the Eagles. They are the biggest math problem in the NFL. You got to play single high because of Sequin. Oh, oh, here comes the best man beating ride receiver arguably in the entire league. To me, I know there's a little bit of like, I want to say hebie-jeebies, but everybody is remembers. It felt like we were saying all the same things when they went to Brian Johnson.

And so there's a little, I wouldn't say paranoia, but there's, I have found like there's a little bit of pause when we say, cool, just run it back, hit copy, paste. You don't have to change anything. Okay, cool, but they did that and it went horribly. But that was a different, a different group. First of all, Jaylen Hertz, I think has become a better quarterback, particularly against splits, against pressure. And they didn't have Sequin Barclay. And so I think that'll help mitigate that to some degree. And I also think from the, from the coaching standpoint,

and like the personality dynamics there, if you want to be optimistic about it, back then the Brian Johnson, Nick Siriani situation was one where Nick felt like, you know, I think he was eager to be involved in all of that stuff. Whereas because this is Kevin Petulah, who has been his right-hand man,

I think he's going to be a little bit more willing to let it be Petulow's show for now. But we also know that, you know, Nick can only help himself for so long. So we will see how that plays out. Yeah, I don't know if Nick's, wound as tight now as he was in 2023. I think super...

Not wound tight though. I think the Super Bowl helps you though, right? You can flex a little bit at your Super Bowl. The last thing on that front, on just the math problem that the Eagles present, that I always, we often talk about is, and this is one way in which, you know, Jalen could get better, is, boy, when you have

A.J. Brown and Devante Smith and Dallas Goddard and Seekwon Barkley, it sure seems like that fifth guy should be someone that the defense can't really pay attention to. And the Eagles throw to their third. Jalen Hertz specifically throws to his third receiver less often than anybody else in football.

And I understand it. You know, you should throw the ball to AJ and Devante, but it does feel like that is a just one little area where I feel like they could get better. Goward is one too where I think, you know, last year disappeared and underperformed.

There's injuries too. And it's such an opportunity for him in this offense because of everything else, right? Like, I think of him as kind of being the third dude. And I feel like if, And that was, I also wasn't sure if they were going to retain him. So to me, that's a, he has the opportunity to be the third guy. The fourth thing is hurts rushing as well.

Yeah. I feel like I got some blowback from Eagles fans. When I, when I said after Super Bowl, I was kind of astounded by how good he looked running. But I, I was. Like, I thought that was the most explosive. He's looked as a runner. And again, injuries, all of it plays into that. But that's such an extra.

factor in this offense and it sometimes it's been up and down how much of a factor that's been over the last couple of years with Philadelphia but that's always an option for them that can really really punish defenses to overplay either Sequin or the receivers. All right. Well said. Mina Kimes, thank you so much. We look forward to this. We'll talk to you in two weeks. Enjoyed it. Great to see you guys. Thanks for having me. You too. Thank you. Meena.