The Eagles built a machine through the draft from 2021 to 2024, and that success has created a very different kind of pressure for the 2025 class.
When a team keeps hitting on first- and second-round picks the way Philadelphia did with DeVonta Smith, Landon Dickerson, Jordan Davis, Cam Jurgens, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean, the standard changes fast. Those eight players are all starters on the Super Bowl LIX championship team, and several have already piled up Pro Bowl and All-Pro recognition. Even the third-round group - Nakobe Dean, Tyler Steen, Milton Williams, and Jalyx Hunt - added to the front office’s ridiculous run.
But that kind of hit rate comes with a cost. The Eagles couldn’t keep everyone, so Dean and Williams left, while extensions went to Smith, Dickerson, Jurgens, Davis, and Carter.
Mitchell and DeJean are in line for theirs too. That left the 2025 draft class carrying a job description that was never going to be easy: replace departing pieces and do it right away.
So far, that hasn’t happened.
Philadelphia used its top two picks on Campbell and Mukuba, betting they could step in as immediate defensive answers. Campbell was supposed to become the long-term off-ball linebacker after Dean moved on, and Mukuba was thrust into a starting safety role when the Eagles again moved on from C.J.
Gardner-Johnson. Through three games in their second season, though, both have been more problem than solution.
Campbell has flashed. He has a sack and a forced fumble in three games.
But quarterbacks have also targeted him as the primary defender to the tune of 9-of-11 passing for 116 yards and a touchdown, which works out to a 140.9 rating. Dean, meanwhile, is thriving with the Las Vegas Raiders, putting up 27 tackles, 1.5 sacks and three forced fumbles in three games.
That production isn’t exactly shocking, but it does underline the gap the Eagles are living with now.
Mukuba’s year has gone in the opposite direction. After showing playmaking ability as a rookie, he has five missed tackles and has allowed a 118.8 passer rating in coverage.
The problems stretch beyond him, too. Reed Blankenship has struggled with the Houston Texans, giving up two passing touchdowns and a 127.6 passer rating in coverage through three games.
Blankenship does have an interception, and that’s one more takeaway than the entire Eagles defense.
That’s the larger issue: the defense just isn’t generating plays, and Campbell and Mukuba are part of that story. Neither player is getting benched, but the fact that the conversation even exists tells you how uneven this draft class has been.
Patience is still possible. It may not be available for long.
There is at least one encouraging development on the other side of the ball. Kendall looks like a legitimate long-term piece on the offensive line, especially at center.
He handled 31 pass-blocking snaps against the Bears without allowing a pressure, and through two starts he has allowed pressure on just 2.7% of his dropbacks. He has also held up well in the run game.
If he had been needed at left guard when Landon Dickerson got hurt, that likely would have worked too, but the bigger takeaway is that the Eagles may have found another starter.
Ty Robinson, a fourth-round pick, has also taken steps forward this preseason. Even so, the evaluation on him isn’t close to finished, especially with Moro Ojomo and Byron Young likely to leave in free agency for better opportunities elsewhere.
The rest of the class has thinned out quickly. Kyle McCord, Myles Hinton, Cameron Williams, and Antwaun Powell-Ryland are no longer with the organization, and Mac McWilliams, a fifth-round pick, could be next.
That’s why the 2025 draft class feels different from the ones that came before it. The Eagles have been spoiled by the immediate returns from previous drafts, and those results have raised the bar for this group.
Campbell and Mukuba still have time to change the story. The question is whether Philadelphia can afford to wait.
In Other News...
Eagles May Need A Real Linebacker Change Fans Saw Coming
Jihaad Campbell has settled in as the Eagles primary inside linebacker this season, and the rookie has done what coaches ask first by showing up around the ball. He leads the team in tackles, which is exactly why his role has become such a useful measuring stick for the defense as a whole. But the tape has also made clear where the growing pains are, especially when opponents force him into pass coverage and test him as the primary defender.
That is where Jeremiah Trotter Jr. keeps creeping back into the conversation. He saw plenty of praise during training camp and the preseason, but his defensive snaps have stayed limited once the games started to matter. With coverage issues hanging over the middle of the field, the Eagles may have a straightforward adjustment staring at them, and it could mean giving Trotter a bigger rotational role sooner rather than later. [Read more 🡒]
Sirianni Just Fueled A Brutal Eagles Debate About This Offense
The late-third-quarter decision against the Bears has kept the Eagles offense in the spotlight, and not just because of the score. With Philadelphia trailing by 13 points on Monday night, Nick Sirianni opted against trying to convert a 4th and 1, a choice that quickly drew criticism as the kind of conservative call that can shrink a comeback window in a hurry. In a game like that, every possession carries extra weight, especially when the offense is already fighting uphill.
Sirianni later said he should have gone for it, which only sharpened the larger debate around how aggressive this group needs to be when the margin is slipping away. For an Eagles offense that has been under a microscope, the moment became less about a single play and more about philosophy, the kind of call that can linger because it speaks to trust, urgency and how much risk the staff is willing to take when the game starts to tilt. [Read more 🡒]
Eagles Fans Have Every Right To Be Furious Over This Jalen Carter No-Call
On a single snap that had Eagles fans shaking their heads, Jalen Carter powered through his blocker with a sharp swim move and looked poised to finish the rush on quarterback Case Keenum. Instead, he was shoved from behind by an offensive lineman behind the line of scrimmage, a contact that appeared to knock him off the play just as he was closing in.
The no-call stood, even though the shove may have kept Carter from a sack, and the sequence only got stranger when Rome Odunze dropped a touchdown pass on the same play. For Philadelphia, it was the kind of moment that leaves plenty of frustration behind, not just because of what Carter did right, but because the flag never came. [Read more 🡒]