Teams (Including Bucs) Spooked By Jihaad Campbell’s Surgically Repaired Shoulder?
April 5th, 2025
Alabama ILB Jihaad Campbell.
Joe noticed a whole lot of chatter from Bucs types this week from the swanky Breakers resort in Palm Beach where NFL owners sunned themselves, talked tush push and 18-game schedules and largely backslapped themselves over glasses of French cognac.
“Tariffs? Ha! What tariffs? That’s for the littles to sweat over, like all of these slovenly sportswriters we let out of their cages this week. Where’s the brie, Sappington?”
But seriously, Joe heard a lot of trumpeting from Bucs types about linebacker SirVocea Dennis, indirect on-the-record grumbling about Jamel Dean and happy chatter about possibly beefing up an already beefy interior defensive line.
Did you hear either Team Glazer, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht or Todd Bowles say anything about inside linebacker this week?
Maybe there is a reason for that.
Joe was very, very high on Jihaad Campbell, this terror on two feet, a stud inside linebacker from Alabama. Lord knows when your best inside linebacker is 35, there’s a need there.
Joe, personally, cooled his heels about Campbell when Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk floated the notion that Campbell, who had shoulder surgery right after the combine to address a mysterious injury, could need eight months to rehab.
The Bucs are trying to stoke the fires for a Super Bowl run, they need a stud inside linebacker on the field, not walking along the sidelines in a sling.
Hell, that’s why so many folks are fed up with Dean. It’s not so much his play, it’s that he can’t stay on the field, especially when the Bucs need him the most, in playoff games.
So to have a first round pick, who needs snaps in practice and playing time, possibly missing all of offseason including OTAs, rookie minicamp, mandatory minicamp, all of underwear football season and training camp is not ideal for a team trying to get to Silicon Valley for the Super Bowl in February.
And if the Bucs are spooked by Campbell’s shoulder, they are not alone it appears. Field Yates of BSPN seems to think Campbell may just get pushed to the end of the first round and perhaps beyond because teams are wary of his bum shoulder.
“… [I]njuries are becoming a prominent influence on rankings near the top of the board. Notable injuries include: Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell (shoulder), Ohio State left tackle Josh Simmons (patellar tendon), East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. (ACL) and Notre Dame cornerback Benjamin Morrison (hip). I think Campbell, Simmons and Revel are first-round locks at full strength, but scouts are having a harder time specifying a precise range because of their health concerns.”
Well, let’s think about it: Campbell, when healthy, many thought likely could fall to the Bucs at No. 19. Teams picking behind the Bucs are good teams as well. They too, are shooting for a Super Bowl.
Hard to bank on a rookie helping them reach their goal this season if he’s not going to get on a football field until perhaps October. A rookie who misses all offseason and training camp, well, that guy’s rookie season is pretty much a wash.
Teams trying to get to Santa Clara in February need dudes on the field now, not maybe midseason.
So maybe the reason why the Bucs don’t seem hot in the pants for inside linebacker at No. 19 is that they’ve already taken Campbell off their board in the first round because of his shoulder?
April 5th, 2025 at 12:15 am
“ Did you hear either Team Glazer, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht or Todd Bowles say anything about inside linebacker this week?”
The funny thing is, it could also mean the opposite. Of course they don’t want people to know who/position they are thinking aka smokescreen. Jihad incoming.
April 5th, 2025 at 12:37 am
no injury peeps please
April 5th, 2025 at 12:59 am
They better be scared. If a 5-7th round pick was too much to save the season with good LB help last year, blowing a 1st on an unknown LB that will have a wash of a rookie year due to surgery is just insanity.
April 5th, 2025 at 1:34 am
My heart goes out to Jihaad Campbell. He is in for a life-long reconciliation with how things are versus how they used to be, could have been and were widely expected to be… I hear the noise about advances in surgery but my shoulder just chuckles knowingly as it has me unable to change shirts some days let alone play NFL football. You can roll over wrong in your sleep and your coach will be telling the press, “We’ll know more after his MRI on Wednesday.” Same with Dennis. Baker’s recovery from his non-throwing shoulder injury with the Browns gives me a hint of hope but man, from a player who loved the game and got that love back from the game(s,) shoulder injuries are nothing to sneeze at or waste a draft pick on regardless of what was on tape or scouted before the injury. I guarantee Baker Mayfield knows what I’m talking about and has gritted his way through many minor setbacks with the way he runs and blocks but that is Baker gritty-stuff- not a healthy left shoulder or anything that is reasonable to expect a top draft pick to overcome. Sad pass on Campbell.
April 5th, 2025 at 2:26 am
Hard to draft a injured off ball LB who want see the field well into the season, btw especially for a team in win now mode
April 5th, 2025 at 2:33 am
Maybe he plummets and we get him in the second round.
April 5th, 2025 at 4:43 am
Yeah I’m spooked. Too bad, couple months ago I was prolly pretty happy if he was the pick. Now I am thinking ILB is a 3rd priority after DL/Edge and DB are addressed.
April 5th, 2025 at 4:45 am
Feel bad for Campbell. I was all in on him too, hoping his injury could be successfully rehabbed. Maybe, you never know. But why take the risk in the draft when you don’t have to.
April 5th, 2025 at 6:04 am
Tis the season to be Smokescreening Joe.
So wo knows? A Kicker!
Go Bucs!
April 5th, 2025 at 6:36 am
If he can sit for an entire year to heal and learn the D, and he’s there at 53, ok.
Just plan on not playing him, or maybe last 3-4 games of the season IF we think he’s ready. Im giving up my WR pick of Higgins though for it, but LD may retire and we need that young stud of an ILB to be ready to take over….and he’s an animal lover, I like that.
19 Emman/Starks
53 Campbell/Higgins
then DT Deone Walker….if Emman and Starks are both gone, just trade down a spot or two or three. Harmon might be there….we’ll work on Safety later.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:06 am
I don’t think we should take him. SVD has shoulder issues as well. We do not need two prone ILBs to take over for LVD. I say pass on Jihaad and trade the first round pick for Trey Hendrickson
April 5th, 2025 at 7:11 am
What Max said-he doesn’t NEED to play this year, but do you spend a #1 on a guy for NEXT year? He likely gone by #53 tho. We never seem to spend #1’s on corners, hence a DT is my guess.
Who was the guy the Bucs drafted in the first, who they didn’t even have in fur a top 30 visit? They sneaky
April 5th, 2025 at 7:26 am
The Bucs and Licht still have lingering anxiety about 2nd round Noah Spence who ended his career with a shoulder injury.
April 5th, 2025 at 7:28 am
If you’re a team picking in the top 15-20, you need a day 1 starter. It’s that simple. The teams at the bottom can nurse an injured draftee, but even the most competitive would pass. If the rehab period is real, and there are too many other players who are day 1 starters, this kid could slide to Rd 2.