Eagles Snap Counts: Jihaad Campbell Doesn't See Field On Defense Vs. Bears

Eagles snap counts: Jihaad Campbell doesn't see field on defense vs. Bears originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Jihaad Campbell didn’t play a single snap on defense in the Eagles’ 24-15 loss to the Bears on Black Friday.

Ever since the return of Nakobe Dean to the lineup in Week 7, Campbell’s defensive snaps began to evaporate and in Week 13 they were all gone. The Eagles played a season-high 87 snaps on defense and Campbell didn’t see the field.

Zack Baun played all 87 snaps and Dean played 82 of 87 (94%). Campbell’s role was playing six special teams snaps.

Things had been trending this way. Campbell has played the fewest snaps of the season in three consecutive weeks: 20 against the Lions, 11 against the Cowboys and now 0 against the Bears.

In fact, here’s a look at Campbell’s snaps since Dean’s return:

Week 7: 60 snaps (87%)
Week 8: 21 snaps (40.4%)
Week 10: 34 snaps (50%)
Week 11: 20 snaps (33.9%)
Week 12: 11 snaps (14.9%)
Week 13: 0 snaps (0%)

The Eagles moved up one spot in April to draft Campbell with the No. 31 overall pick out of Alabama and he showed real promise early this season. In fact, it wasn’t long ago that he was one of the favorites to win Defensive Rookie of the Year. Friday’s defensive performance was awful but Dean had been playing very well in recent weeks and it was getting harder and harder to take him off the field. This clearly has more to do with Dean than it does Campbell.

For a while, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was getting Campbell some snaps at inside linebacker in a rotation with Dean and also getting Campbell some snaps as an edge rusher. Friday was the first time in 12 games that Campbell didn’t see the field.

Other defensive notes

• The Eagles were crushed in time of possession on Friday: 39:18-20:42 and that showed up in snap counts. Fangio’s defense played an outrageous 87 snaps and the Bears ran 85 plays. That’s the most plays the Eagles’ defense has faced in a regulation game since the 2016 season and just the ninth time this century they’ve had that many defensive plays in a game.

• Baun, Quinyon Mitchell, Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean played all 87 snaps. Those 87 snaps are a career high for Baun, Mitchell and DeJean. Blankenship played 95(!) against the Bills in the 2023 overtime game.

• Without Drew Mukuba, who is on IR after having ankle surgery, Sydney Brown started and played 85 of 87 snaps at safety.

• The DT rotation: Moro Ojomo — 62 snaps (71%), Jalen Carter — 61 snaps (70%), Jordan Davis — 59 snaps (68%), Byron Young — 38 snaps (44%). This is the first game all season when Carter played and didn’t lead the DTs in snaps.

• The edge rotation: Jaelan Phillips — 67 snaps (77%), Jalyx Hunt — 61 snaps (70%), Nolan Smith — 34 snaps (39%), Brandon Graham — 6 snaps (7%).

• The Eagles played one snap in dime and Michael Carter II was on the field for it.

Offensive notes

• The Eagles offense played just 54 snaps and ran just 51 plays. This is the first time since 2018 the Eagles’ defense had 85+ plays and their offense had fewer than 55.

• Jalen Hurts and his entire offensive line played all 54 snaps. That includes Fred Johnson, who got the start at right tackle for the second consecutive week as Lane Johnson recovers from a Lisfranc sprain.

• Saquon Barkley played 50 snaps, while Will Shipley played just 4 and Tank Bigsby played just 1. Barkley had some early success but finished with just 13 carries for 56 yards. Shipley and Bigsby didn’t get any touches.

• At WR, A.J. Brown played 52 snaps (96%), followed by DeVonta Smith — 51 snaps (94%), Jahan Dotson — 32 snaps (59%) and Darius Cooper — 13 snaps (24%). Brown had a big game with 10 catches for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns.

• At TE, Dallas Goedert played 48 snaps (89%), followed by Grant Calcaterra — 12 snaps (22%), Cameron Latu — 5 snaps (9%) and Kylen Granson — 2 snaps. Goedert had a quiet day; he finished with 2 catches for 27 yards but had just 1 for 5 until the final minute of the game.