‘He's going to be a problem:' What Saquon Barkley sees in rookie Jihaad Campbell

He's going to be a problem:' What Saquon Barkley sees in rookie Jihaad Campbell originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

It didn't take long for Jihaad Campbell to make a big fan at Eagles camp.

None other than the best running back in football.

Saquon Barkley, who's gotten plenty of work against the rookie 1st-round linebacker, raved about Campbell after practice Monday.

Super raw, like freaky athletic," he said. He's going to be a problem, a real big problem for a lot of guys in the league who have to go against him and block him."

Campbell has been one of the big stories in camp as he's come in and really taken ownership of a starting inside linebacker spot alongside 1st-team all-pro Zack Baun.

He's got tremendous size, athleticism, speed and toughness, and we've seen that every day out at practice. It remains to be seen whether he'll play in the preseason opener vs. the Bengals, but at some point everybody will see what kind of player the Eagles selected with the 31stpick in April.

He's kind of built like Micah (Parsons) a little bit," Barkley said. I've known Micah for a long time. So I feel like as he grows and learns the game a little bit more, you're going to be able to put him in different spots. But just raw, uber athletic, can fly (and) aggressive."

That aggressiveness is great and should make him a very popular Eagle once it's channeled the right way. But Campbell also has to be reigned in sometimes.

He's so aggressive he tends to forget that these are practices.

Probably too aggressive in camp right now, to be honest," Barkley said with a smile. Gotta teach him to stay away from the guys in red (quarterbacks) and knowing when to tag off and take shots.

But we'd rather him be more aggressive than not. So it's fun. It's fun to get to go against him every single day. And he asks a lot of questions. He asks a lot of questions, whether it's asking Zack and those guys, or I might have made a move that might have worked with him, like coming up to me and seeing what I saw. So I'm really excited for him."

Campbell stands 6-foot-3, 235 pounds and if you didn't know he was a linebacker you might think he's an edge or tight end or even an under-sized offensive lineman.

You know how coaches always say a guy flies to the ball?" Nobody literally flies to the ball. Campbell comes close.

I just have to keep being mindful of practicing, like knowing how to practice and stuff like that," he said after practice Monday. I'm doing it one day at a time. I think sometimes I definitely probably slow down and just have more body control."

The Eagles are throwing linebacker and edge at Campbell, and that's a lot for a 21-year-old kid two weeks into his rookie training camp.

Vic Fangio was asked Monday if he worries about giving Campbell too much to work on, too much to study, too much to learn.

It's a good question," Fangio said. It's a harder question with the practice time and reps not being way up there," he said. It's a fine line that we're trying to manage. We're probably a little guilty of putting too much on his plate, but time is coming, days are disappearing."

Campbell said he enjoys getting work on the edge - which so far has been mostly but not entirely after practice.

Campbell knows he has a lot of work to do before he can get edge rushers in a real game, but he said he welcomes the heavy workload.

Just understanding the demeanor of my rush, just reading run or pass key first, because if I'm on the edge, I might be blitzing and disguising a coverage," he said. It all depends on what the scheme is, what our play is.

It's not difficult. I feel as though I'm versatile. So I really enjoy being that type of player. And I'm just excited to just keep on working at my skill set, mentally and physically."

But Fangio warned not to get your expectations up too high that lining up on the edge is going to be a big part of Campbell's rookie year.

He needs a lot of work at it," he said. Again, that's going back to the previous question, that's adding things to his plate right now and in defense of him, he hadn't been coached up enough to be on the edge and play the way we want to play.

So part of that's him being overloaded, part of that is us not getting him ready, which is just a product of lack of time and lack of reps."