The Linc - NFL exec says Vic Fangio will use Jihaad Campbell and Zack Baun like “Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman in San Francisco”

2025 NFL Draft Portraits — Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images

Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 5/2/25.

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …

Execs unfiltered thoughts on NFL Draft for every NFC team: Giants, Bears get high marks – The Athletic
Jihaad Campbell, labeled a tone-setting “hammer” by one exec, was the first true linebacker selected (considering Jalon Walker as an edge rusher). Second-rounder Andrew Mukuba was the third safety.Injuries are one risk with Campbell. Positional fit could be another, depending on the coordinator. “Jihaad Campbell was one of the higher grades I’ve given for a linebacker,” an exec said. “(Defensive coordinator) Vic Fangio will use (Zack) Baun off the ball and Campbell on the ball, and that is huge. They will be the blitzers in the simulated four-man pressures that Vic runs. It can be like Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman in San Francisco.”

2025 NFL Rookie of the Year predictions: Ranking candidates – ESPN+
Similarly, Eagles linebacker Jihaad Campbell can play a variety of roles on his defense, but he has a depth chart to slog through. If Campbell is an edge rusher in the pros, he’ll rotate in for snaps behind Nolan Smith Jr. and Jalyx Hunt; if he’s an off-ball linebacker, he’ll do the same behind Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean. I can’t define his role with any confidence, so I can’t rank him with any confidence, either.

NFL re-draft 2022 after option decisions show keepers and busts – SB Nation
13. Philadelphia Eagles: Jordan Davis, DT. Original Pick: Jordan Davis, DT. Davis and the Eagles were made for each other, a massive DT able to clog holes in the run game. He’s a bit limited, but with the way the Eagles rotate their defensive line, he still has plenty value here. […] 17. Los Angeles Chargers: Cam Jurgens, COriginal Pick: Zion Johnson, G. Again, not exactly a 1:1 fit, but Jurgens played guard in Philly before moving to center after Jason Kelce retired, and was a big reason why the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year.

Eagles winners and losers from the 2025 NFL Draft – NBCSP
Losers. S Sydney Brown: This one is pretty obvious. The Eagles used their second-round pick (No. 64 overall) on safety Andrew Mukuba out of Texas. Before this pick, there wasn’t really anyone in Brown’s way from that starting safety job next to Reed Blankenship. But then the Eagles drafted Mukuba, who has already been compared to the former starter at that spot, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who was traded to the Texans this offseason. Brown was drafted at No. 66 overall (third round) a couple years ago but he was selected before Vic Fangio took over as DC. Brown suffered a torn ACL at the end of his rookie season, which kept him out for the start of 2024. So even though he was buried on the depth chart last season, we don’t really know what Fangio thinks of him. But we do know the Eagles last week drafted a guy who is probably already the favorite to win the job.

Howie Roseman: Nothing in the past guarantees future success – PFT
The Eagles lost a few key pieces from their Super Bowl team in March, but they held onto linebacker Zack Baun and have a lot more of their stars returning to the team than leaving when all is said and done. That will lead to a lot of talk about a possible repeat as the 2025 season draws closer, but General Manager Howie Roseman offered a little caution against putting the cart before the horse. Roseman told Adam Schein of Mad Dog Sports Radio that the Eagles have to “take the lessons we learned from that 2017 team” as they move toward next season.

Top 10 games of 2025 season: Chiefs-Bills, Vikings-Seahawks rank high on upcoming NFL schedule – NFL.com
It’s the matchup we didn’t get last postseason. The Lions and the Eagles were the clear-cut two best NFC clubs during the regular season, but then Detroit failed to win a playoff game while Philly romped to the Lombardi Trophy. Changes happened, as they do every year for every team — including Detroit losing both of its coordinators and Philly saying goodbye to its OC and some defensive pieces — but the key players remain to provide an excellent show of two NFC powers. Lions wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown has already stumped for this game to be the season opener. Regardless of where on the calendar it falls, we should be in for a heavyweight bout between a Jared Goff -led explosive offense and the home runs of Saquon Barkley.

Spadaro: Eagles have bright picture – for now and into the future – PE.com
“We are always trying to think of the present and the future simultaneously and optimize across what we’re trying to build this year and then planning for a team that is sustainably good,” Assistant General Manager Alec Halaby said. “This is something that we have tried to do here for years and something that we want to continue to do. I think we have a really good core to the roster. We have a lot of really good young players, but if you’re not adding to that group every year, it can be gone like that (snaps fingers). We’re very, very cognizant of that, of adding good, young players every year and we want to keep the roster dynamic.”

The Art Museum is set to unveil a new Manet thanks its Super Bowl bet with Kansas City museum – Inquirer
The Eagles won the Lombardi Trophy. The Philadelphia Museum of Art won a Manet (for now). Thanks to a Super Bowl bet, the Art Museum is set to unveil Édouard Manet’s The Croquet Party on May 14 in Gallery 252. The 19th-century French oil painting is on loan from Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum after the Eagles defeated the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX. The friendly wager dates back to the Eagles, Chiefs first Super Bowl matchup in 2022. Both museums made a similar bet, resulting in the PMA lending out Thomas Eakins’ 1875 oil painting Sailing. Fast-forward seven years, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum is shipping off one of its Manets to Philly.

They Kissed When the Eagles Won. Then They Got to Know Each Other. – New York Times
Shamus Clancy and Ashley Suder were strangers when they met at a Super Bowl championship parade to recreate a famous photo. They were brought together by a viral tweet and a bold suggestion. [BLG Note: Big shoutout to BGN alumnus Shamus Clancy!]

The 5 O’Clock Club: Madden ‘26 – Hogs Haven
EA Sports, of course, seeks to maximize its leverage by selecting the most exciting athlete possible for the annual cover. Who in the NFL is more exciting than the guy who sold more jerseys than any other pro athlete in the world last year, Jayden Daniels? If I were in charge of cover art at EA Sports, the guy at the top of my list would be JD5. Of course, some might argue that, after a single Rookie of the Year season, it’s too soon to make Jayden Daniels the face of NFL football — that this ‘honor’ should be reserved for veteran players who have spent years building a legacy. They don’t want to see a flash in the pan immortalized on the cover of this iconic game. What do you think?

NFL Draft Analysis: Washington Commanders – BGN
This is a big offseason for the Washington Commanders. They have the reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year in Jayden Daniels, who is clearly a franchise quarterback, and they are coming off an NFC Championship appearance (where the Eagles clobbered them). It was crucial for Dan Quinn’s squad to not rest on their laurels and continue to build out a Super Bowl contender. That journey started with big bangs during free agency, where the team traded for Laremy Tunsil and Deebo Samuel to put more around their young signal caller. They also signed Javon Kinlaw to a big contract to bolster their defensive line. Though they had limited resources in the 2025 NFL Draft, Washington continued to add players who could contribute early and mostly make life easier for Jayden Daniels.

Cowboys point/counterpoint: How complete is the roster after 2025 draft? – Blogging The Boys
It’s going to sound like I’m critical of this draft, and I’m really not – I gave the overall draft class a B+ grade, after all. But I am much more bothered by the wide receiver neglect than you seem to be. Banking on Jonathan Mingo to be your WR2 in 2025 is dangerously arrogant; I really, really hope to see a veteran free agent added in the coming days to address this concern. I get your point about beefing up the trenches, and it certainly doubled-down on comments from Schottenheimer this offseason, but I’m not sure it was as necessary as getting a wide receiver. Dallas signed several experienced free agents – Saahdiq Charles, Robert Jones, and Hakeem Adeniji on offense; Solomon Thomas, Dante Fowler, and Payton Turner on defense – that offered better insurance in those areas than Mingo does at receiver. Again, I don’t hate this draft class, but I probably would’ve done things a little differently.

Giants still hovering near bottom in post-draft NFL power rankings – Big Blue View
Despite adding a potential franchise quarterback and bolstering their defense in the 2025 NFL Draft, the New York Giants continue to rank near the bottom in post-draft power rankings. National outlets remain skeptical about the team’s immediate outlook, though some analysts see glimmers of hope for the future. Here’s where the Giants land and what analysts are saying.

NFC East 2025 draft grades: Giants edition – PhillyVoice
Hey, the Giants had a pretty good draft! They got a top-2 prospect in Carter, while the selections of Alexander, Skattebo, and Mbow ranged from reasonable-to-good values, while also fitting needs. I also liked the two athletic upside plays in Fidone and Black in the seventh round. Really the only player who was “overdrafted” was Dart, and yet, I’m fine with what they did there. Even if Dart eventually flames out in spectacular fashion, he at least buys some short-term hope from the fan base, for now, and there’s some value in that for a team that, again, as noted above, has the worst record in the NFL since 2017. And if Dart ultimately turns out to be a good starter, then the cost to go get him will seem like peanuts. Grade: A-