Eagles' Handling Of Star Rookie Deserves Scrutiny

Dean started his extraordinary comeback from a torn patellar tendon, at least in a meaningful way, on Oct. 19 in Minnesota, and Campbell's playing time has steadily declined from 87% of the defensive snaps against the Vikings to the first nose dive of 40% against the New York Giants. From there it's been 50% at Green Bay to 34% against Detroit, a paltry 15% at Dallas down to nothing against the Bears.

The original idea from defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was that Dean, who is a team leader and naturally instinctive LB, would handle the base snaps and Campbell would take over for most of the nickel reps due to his athleticism, and occasionally also rep as an overhang player as well.

Campbell, though, has struggled on the edge in limited opportunities and reps there dried up when the Eagles acquired Jaelan Phillips and lured Brandon Graham out of retirement.

"We're mixing him, he's playing some outside, playing some inside," Fangio said earlier this month when discussing Campbell. "Totally happy with his play at both spots and thrilled to have him."

Before the Bears game, however, Fangio foreshadowed what was coming.

"Nakobe has been playing very well, and he deserves to be in there," the veteran DC said.

Campbell took to social media on Monday with a three-word mantra.

"Patience and determination."

The soft-benching is curious because Campbell is regarded as a foundational piece of the organization's future while Dean is set to hit free agency after the season with a long list of injuries on his resume.

The obvious explanation is that Fangio simply trusts the veteran more The question is should he?

Campbell is still graded No. 10 of the 86 off-ball linebackers who've played enough to be ranked by Pro Football Focus this season, while Dean has dipped to No. 76 after his poor performance against the Bears.