{"id":345943,"date":"2025-09-06T09:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/345943\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T09:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T09:14:10","slug":"eagles-zack-baun-jihaad-campbell-show-potential-as-nfls-best-linebacker-duo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/345943\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagles’ Zack Baun, Jihaad Campbell show potential as NFL’s best linebacker duo"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Good morning, Eagles fans. Or good afternoon or good evening, depending on when you\u2019re reading this. Welcome to PennLive\u2019s new Eagles<\/a> column, \u201cMcGonigal Morning Quarterback,\u201d where I\u2019ll dive deep on one big-picture thought from the most recent game.<\/p>\n

Now, I have to start by giving my colleague Bob Flounders<\/a> credit for coming up with the name. I also have to blame a lightning delay and a late night covering all angles of Jalen Carter\u2019s \u201cSpitGate\u201d<\/a> for why this wasn\u2019t posted the day after the Eagles beat the Cowboys in Thursday\u2019s season opener. But that\u2019s OK. We\u2019re here now.<\/p>\n

Moving forward, Eagles fans can expect this column to run the day after every game. I was in the Lincoln Financial Field press box for the Eagles\u2019 24-20 win over the Cowboys. I was in the postgame locker room. And that will be the case all year, plus multiple away games. <\/p>\n

Now that the intro is done, let\u2019s get to my biggest takeaway from Thursday: Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell have what it takes to be the best linebacker duo in the NFL.<\/p>\n

We saw that unfold on one drive. <\/p>\n

The Eagles desperately needed a stop. After Dallas scored on four straight drives to open the game, Vic Fangio\u2019s unit had to stop the bleeding. That\u2019s where Campbell and Baun came in.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start with Campbell. If you polled the Eagles beat back in July, most would be surprised that the first-round rookie out of Alabama started the opener, let alone shining. Campbell fell to the Eagles at No. 31 overall in the draft due in large part to a torn labrum suffered in March. The first-team All-SEC defender needed surgery, and it was uncertain when he would return.<\/p>\n

But Campbell started the summer fast. He was cleared to practice at the beginning of training camp and flashed the athleticism that made Howie Roseman and the Eagles\u2019 scouting department fall in love with him. That athleticism was on full display Thursday.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Campbell, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound linebacker, tracking back 30 yards in tight coverage and breaking up a Dak Prescott pass to tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford. Prescott\u2019s head fake and throw down the seam didn\u2019t fool Campbell whatsoever. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they motioned from 2×2 to 2×1, I had him vertical and took him,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cAs Coach Vic says, \u2018Don\u2019t panic when you\u2019re in coverage and you\u2019re swatting the ball. Just stay calm.\u2019 And that\u2019s what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Campbell does. It\u2019s not what most linebackers do. It\u2019s not what most rookies do. The Cowboys probably thought they could trick No. 30 in his NFL debut. Instead, Campbell \u2014 Pro Football Focus\u2019 highest-graded defender in the game \u2014 did his job.<\/p>\n

On the next play, Baun did the same. Miles Sanders found a crease and burst ahead of the Eagles\u2019 defense. As the play unfolded, it looked like the former Penn State and Eagles running back would coast into the end zone for a long touchdown in his return to Philly. But Baun came out of nowhere, chasing Sanders down and tackling him at the 11-yard line. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, that\u2019s a seven-point tackle,\u201d Nick Sirianni said postgame.<\/p>\n

On that play, Baun reached a top speed of 20.68 miles per hour, per NFL Next Gen stats. You read that correctly. A 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker went 20.68 miles per hour. That\u2019s part of the reason why Baun was an All-Pro last year. That\u2019s why he was an integral part of the Eagles\u2019 Super Bowl run. He\u2019s ultra-athletic, and he never gives up on the play. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe does it in practice,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cI didn\u2019t expect nothing less in a game.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Baun and Campbell weren\u2019t done. Two plays after catching Sanders, Baun had a PBU on an end-zone seam route to tight end Jake Ferguson. A couple plays after that, Campbell and Byron Young combined to strip Sanders for a fumble recovered by Quinyon Mitchell. <\/p>\n

Campbell and Baun were everywhere. And the scary thing for everyone else in the NFL? This has the makings of a long-term partnership. Baun signed a lucrative three-year deal after his 2024 All-Pro season. Eagles have Campbell under contract through 2029 if they want.<\/p>\n

The Eagles\u2019 present and future are bright at linebacker. Thursday proved that. <\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys ex-head coach rips social media rumor started by \u2018sick and cruel person\u2019<\/a>Sep. 6, 2025, 5:00a.m.Eagles sign a three-time Pro Bowl edge rusher. How will it impact rotation?<\/a>Sep. 5, 2025, 4:56p.m.Eagles add another former Alabama WR, release 2025 draft pick<\/a>Sep. 5, 2025, 1:13p.m.Eagles WR, former Penn State star shines vs. Cowboys<\/a>Sep. 5, 2025, 11:32a.m.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Good morning, Eagles fans. Or good afternoon or good evening, depending on when you\u2019re reading this.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[19682,25,7,7191,911,6,242,109,2476,14602,1517],"class_list":{"0":"post-345943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-ben-vansumeren","9":"tag-eagles","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-jahan-dotson","12":"tag-jihaad-campbell","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","16":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","17":"tag-will-shipley","18":"tag-zack-baun"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115156593404233827","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}