Philadelphia Eagles training camp begins at the end of July, so over the next few weeks we’ll detail what we need to see from each positional group heading into the 2026 season. We’ll continue on today with the off-ball linebackers.
Previous training camp previews
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver
Tight end | Offensive tackle | Interior OL
Edge defender | Interior DL
First, the depth chart:
123Zack BaunJeremiah TrotterChance CampbellJihaad CampbellSmael MondonDeontae Lawson
• Zack Baun is a star player who is entering Year 3 in Vic Fangio’s scheme. There’s not much to see from him in training camp, and the Eagles would be wise to treat him like a seasoned veteran who does not need a ton of reps in camp.
• This time last offseason, it was expected that Jihaad Campbell wouldn’t be ready to participate in training camp at least until sometime in August, per Fangio. However, on the first day of camp, Campbell was pretty much a full participant, significantly beating his recovery timeline. Campbell looked the part immediately, with his impressive size and athleticism, and throughout camp it became clear that he was going to start Week 1.
In the Eagles’ first seven games, Campbell had 43 tackles, an INT, a forced fumble, and a couple of pass breakups. But when Nakobe Dean returned to the field from his patellar tendon tear, Campbell was demoted to make room for him.
Campbell did get to play on the edge a bit as well, but was mostly ineffective there. He has a ways to go as a pass rusher, if the Eagles intend on using him in some sort of edge/LB hybrid role going forward. Spoiler: They will allow him to focus fully on being an off-ball linebacker this offseason, since he’ll be an unquestioned starter there this year.
If he had started the whole season as a rookie, Campbell likely would have accumulated stats that would have competed with some of the other rookie finalists for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. But beyond his play on the field, I was impressed by his maturity after he lost his starting job. He didn’t complain, and he was prepared to play again when Dean got hurt later in the season.
Campbell missed the entire spring after he had another procedure on his shoulder, but he is expected to be ready for the start of training camp. The test for Campbell this year will be whether he can master the subtleties of Fangio’s defense from a mental perspective.
Oh, and he also changed his jersey number from 30 to 11, a major upgrade. 📈
• When training camp began in 2025, Dean was on the PUP list and, as noted above, it wasn’t expected that Campbell would be ready to participate until August. As such, Jeremiah Trotter was in line to get all the first-team reps, at least initially in camp. But, with Campbell unexpectedly ready on Day 1 of camp, Trotter had to wait his turn some more.
In his two training camps with the Eagles, Trotter has looked like a tough, smart, instinctive linebacker, even if he is lacking in size and ideal athleticism. He began the regular season as the first off-ball linebacker off the bench, but was never needed. And then after Dean was ready to return from his injury, Trotter was buried on the depth chart behind Baun, Dean, and Campbell.
Still, Trotter has quietly done his job as a core special teamer, and in 2025 he led the team in special teams tackles. With Dean signing in free agency with the Raiders, Trotter will be the first linebacker off the bench should Baun or Campbell go down.
Trotter did get first-team reps with Campbell missing spring practices, and he played well, as he was consistently in the right place against the run and pass.
• Smael Mondon had an encouraging rookie training camp, a bad preseason game, a decent preseason game, and then he played in every real game as a rookie, almost exclusively on special teams. In total, he played 289 special teams snaps, and 14 snaps in the regular defense, all of which came in garbage time blowouts against the Giants, Raiders, and Commanders. He did not get on the field in the regular defense in the “resting starters” game against the Commanders Week 18. Those snaps went to Campbell and Trotter.
I like Mondon’s chances of making the team, but unlike Baun, Campbell, and Trotter above, he’s not a lock. He’s going to have to earn it.
• Zach Berman of The Athletic publishes a great yearly feature in which he asks Eagles regulars which scout team players stood out to them. Last year, Chance Campbell got love from Saquon Barkley, Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, Brett Toth, Moro Ojomo, Jahan Dotson, Jihaad Campbell, Jalyx Hunt, and Grant Calcaterra.
The Eagles signed Campbell in late August last year, so we didn’t really get a good look at him in camp. He spent the entire season on the practice squad. Campbell is 6’2, 232, and he’s a good athlete:
He was a Titans sixth-round pick in 2022, but missed his entire rookie season with a knee injury. He was on and off the roster in 2023, until he suffered a pregame injury in November, ending his season. And then in 2024 he missed the entire season with a torn ACL suffered in training camp. So, you know, he’s injury prone.
Still, I’m curious to see what all those noteworthy Eagles players saw in him in practice last year. He is definitely a player I’ll be watching.
• Deontae Lawson signed with the Eagles as an undrafted free agent. He was a full-time starter for Alabama the last three years, and he wore the green dot helmet for their defense. A couple years ago it would have been shocking to learn that Lawson would go undrafted, but he tore an ACL late in 2024 and wasn’t quite the same player in 2025, though he did make it back in time for the start of the season.
Being another year removed from his injury, Lawson has a chance to get his career trajectory back on track, but he’ll do so as an undrafted free agent on a team with a lot of talent at his position.
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