Eagles ‘Breaking Precedent’ With Big-Time Addition

The Philadelphia Eagles made a great move over the last week. 

Well, there’s an argument that the Eagles made a handful of solid moves. The NFL Draft now is behind us, and the organization clearly has more firepower led by No. 31 pick Jihaad Campbell.

The pick was Howie Roseman-esq in the sense that the team landed a high-end prospect at a surprisingly low pick. But, linebacker isn’t a typical early selection for the Eagles.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler talked about the move and said the Eagles are “breaking precedent" with the selection of Campbell.

"They are re-tooling by taking young, talented players on defense," Fowler said. "You mentioned Campbell, they now have at least seven starters on the defensive side of the ball on rookie contracts and Campbell was just great value. He was a luxury at that point at No. 31 overall falling to to them after some teams I spoke to called him a top-10 overall talent in the entire draft. It was essentially a durability issue, how long can he play based on the various injuries he's had. He had a shoulder issue that could cost him some time.

"The Eagles figure, 'Hey if he misses time, he's going to be great for us. That is all good.' Howie Roseman is breaking precedent here. The Eagles have not drafted a true linebacker since 1979 in the first round. They had never done it. Didn't prioritize the position and typically didn't pay those players a lot. Now, Zack Baun got paid and Jihaad Campbell in the first round. They are clearly trusting Vic Fangio after his Super Bowl performance to develop young players at positions he cares about."