With the Philadelphia Eagles 4-0 but playing like the worst team in NFL history (or so you'd think if you have a Twitter account), let's take some questions for a mailbag post, shall we?
Question from @SeanPatrickMac: With Nakobe Dean returning, could you see the Eagles using Jihaad Campbell as more of an edge defender, especially with Nolan Smith out? And if so, how do you see his skill set translating to that spot?
Vic Fangio has been asked this question about once a month for a while now, and he shoots it down every time. So, no, I don’t think that’s what their approach will be. For what it's worth, I agree with not moving him, for three reasons:
Campbell has been great playing at linebacker. If the season ended today, he’s probably the Defensive Rookie of the Year. The Eagles have a future All-Pro there if he continues on the trajectory he’s on. Why mess with that?
Though he has looked good as a blitzer from his linebacker spot, Campbell just didn’t look very good as an edge rusher whenever he got reps there going one-on-one vs. offensive tackles in training camp. He wouldn’t be an upgrade over the guys already playing on the edge, in my opinion.
There's no guarantee that Dean will even be the same player he was last year. A torn patellar tendon is a very serious injury. He still has to prove that he can still play at a high level before the staff would even consider making significant adjustments to their personnel packages to make sure he’s getting a lot of snaps.
Dean understands that Zack Baun and Jihaad Campbell have been great so far this season, and he was asked if it would be hard on him not to be able to play every snap like he did a year ago.
“I control what I can control,” he said. I’m out there playing. I’m practicing. That’s all I can do. Control what I can control.”
I have no idea what Dean's role will be. I do think Fangio will try to find ways to get him on the field in certain spots and keep him engaged, but it very likely won’t be in the same role he had last year, barring an injury to either Baun or Campbell.
Question from @Hamiltwan (via Bluesky): I know someone has asked you if Nakobe comes back if Campbell (or Baun) could be a pass rusher, but could they also just play some traditional three linebacker (4-3-4) defense with DeJean moving to CB or Safety?
Vic got asked pretty early in training camp if he would ever put three linebackers on the field at the same time. He responded, "Probably not."
Vic's base defense is a 3-4. I like where your head is at, but I don't think getting Dean on the field is a big enough priority that they would add 4-3 base looks, which would require the entire defense to learn and execute all new concepts, assignments, etc.
Question from @cookiesecrets (via Bluesky): How much of the run game woes do you put on Kevin Patullo being too predictable, and how much on Saquon Barkley being worn down from all of the touches he got last year, or the offensive line not playing well?
I think it's all three.
Depending on the formation, the Eagles have been extremely predictable whether it's going to be a run or pass this season. But also, they're not running enough out of 11 personnel (1 RB, 1 TE, 3 WR), which has always been their most effective run package. Instead, for some insane reason, they're putting Grant Calcaterra on the field and inviting heavier defensive personnel packages even though Calcaterra has been abysmal blocking this year.
I think the Eagles have suffered along their offensive line at four spots:
Landon Dickerson has battled injuries this year, and hasn't been his usually dominant self in the run game.
Cam Jurgens hasn't been the same guy either. I believe his back could still be an issue to some degree.
Tyler Steen has been good so far, but I also think he's a better pass protector than run blocker. He's certainly not the run blocking brute force that Mekhi Becton was.
Lane Johnson has had to come out of two games.
Barkley has shown some impressive moves at times this year, buuuuut he also hasn't looked quite the same in my opinion. I think this is the least concerning aspect of the run game of the three noted here, but I don't think he is playing at the same extreme level of explosiveness that he did in 2024.
Question from @mattkrady: I know everyone loves Stoutland U, but as run game coordinator doesn’t he deserve more of the blame for their inability to get anything going on the ground?
(GASP!) HOW DARE YOU!
Also, yes, probably.
Question from @RickP25057744: How many 30 yard runs for Saquon this year?
His long run this year so far is 16 yards. Long runs, by game, 2024 vs. 2025:
Saquon Barkley long runs 2024 2025
Week 1 34 16
Week 2 11 13
Week 3 65 12
Week 4 59 10
Barkley had 17 runs of 20+ yards last year during the regular season, and then 4 more in the playoffs.
Question from @minkusblitz (via Threads): It feels like Saquon is regularly missing blocks or leaving for a route early on pass downs. Is that more on Saquon or on Hurts and the line not identifying the protection pre-snap?
I hadn't intended to have a "Saquon isn't good anymore" section of this mailbag (I don't believe that, to be clear), but I do agree that he has missed a bunch of blocks in pass pro this season after finishing so strongly in that area last year.
Question from @CorruptShamrock: What percentage of 3rd and longs have been Saquon draw plays this year? (It feels like every single one.)
Bo Wulf had a pretty alarming stat regarding your question:
It is so strange how a team that is so aggressive on fourth down can be so extremely conservative on third and long.
Question from @thejoedc (via Bluesky): Seems like a lot of triceps injuries on the defensive line the last two years. Is this common for that position or just bad luck?
Good question. Brandon Graham injured his triceps when a running back chipped him. He basically just took a shot to the triceps from the back's helmet. If I recall correctly, it was Kyren Williams. I don't know exactly how Nolan Smith or Ogbo Okoronkwo injured their triceps.
But yeah, defensive linemen are going to take a lot of shots to their arms, and obviously, there's a lot of pushing and pulling involved with that position, so they're probably more prone to triceps injuries than players at other positions.
On a side note, in my opinion, it's fairly concerning that Smith aggravated that injury almost eight months after originally sustaining it.
Question from @ZooWithRoy: Hi Jimmy. Should they move the goalposts back or make them eight feet higher? Thank you.
Yes.
Question from @austinwullsch: When November and December roll around people like to discuss the "unfair advantage" teams with outdoor stadiums in the North have in the cold. Why do you think it is less talked about as "unfair" that teams like the Dolphins and Bucs INTENTIONALLY have the sun directed at the away side?
Personally, I haven't often seen people say that the northern teams have an "unfair" advantage because they play in the cold. But if people do indeed say that, it's pretty easy to just tell them to shut up, lol. As for the southern teams putting the opposing team on the side of the field that will face heavier sun exposure, I say go for it. What are they going to do? Put themselves on the more uncomfortable side? If teams can take advantage of any home-field advantage within the rules, then they 100 percent should.
Question from @flashgordonfann: As a sports writer, you have to write some tough things about players. Do you remember the first time you were confronted by a player for something you wrote?
I've had players or their agents or family members respond on social media to things I've written, but I've never had a player confront me in person, which I hadn't really thought about until you asked this question. There are two confrontations that I'll always remember.
• The first was Matt Barkley. I had written up notes after an OTA practice in like May, and I commented on a lollypop sideline throw he made that got picked off. My commentary was that he was going to have to have great anticipation because his arm simply wasn't as strong as most other NFL quarterbacks. It was like the seventh or eighth bullet point in my notes, so it wasn't exactly as if I wasn't highlighting it or trying to embarrass him or something.
Anyway, someone posted my notes on the Eagles reddit page, and their headline was that Barkley's arm strength was concerning, lol. Barkley was engaged with the Eagles reddit community and he saw the post. He responded with the following in the comment section of the reddit post:
"Shut up Jimmy, you don't know a thing about that route, the defensive coverage, technique of the wide receiver, the route he was actually running, let alone my maximum velocity arm strength. We can play catch sometime if you want to figure out for yourself how hard I can throw it, just lemme know."
And it went viral. Like, every national media outlet had a quick story on it, since Barkley at the time was a more recognizable name, having recently been a four-year starter at a monster college program (at the time) in USC.
I'm not sure if his idea was to have me stand 10 yards away and he'd fire lasers at my face and see if I could catch them, or if he had some kind of QB skills challenge in mind. I did accept his challenge via Twitter, but never heard back. I was told later that he got reprimanded by Chip to stay off the internet, lol.
To Barkley's credit, he managed to stay in the league for more than a decade.
• The other was Zach Ertz, who in 2016 was one of the easiest players in the NFL to get to the ground, mainly because he would just fall down when defenders got close to him. I called it out, with video examples (which are no longer there, unfortunately).
His agent got super mad about it, and confronted me on Twitter. Anyway, no more than a month later, he jumped out of the way of a Vontaze Burfict block, and, well, I called it out again. Once again, his agent responded, except this time Eagles fans responded to the agent in droves because they had seen enough of Ertz's soft play. And actually, Ertz started playing harder after all the heat that he got from Eagles fans in the wake of the Burfict incident, which Jason Kelce noted in his retirement speech.
"I remember seeing Zach Ertz shy away from a block one game against Vontaze Burfict and the Cincinnati Bengals. Rightfully so, the fans ripped him apart, crushing him for doing it. The next week, the first catch I saw Zach Ertz snag he ran after the catch like I had never seen. It took three guys to bring him down and I heard the Linc erupt with cheers for his effort. Today, you won't find a single Philadelphian with a bad word to say about Zach Ertz and the legacy he left behind.
"As players, you write the narratives. The fans and media, for the most part, occasionally different, only write what you give them. You go above and beyond in this city, you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams."
Ertz never confronted me, either on social media, or as already noted, in person. He also didn't treat me any differently than other reporters. If I asked him a question, he didn't one-word answer me like a lot of other players will do when you piss them off. So I did always respect him for that, and obviously he became a great player.
There's probably a line to walk in criticizing players. On the one hand, they're making a lot of money, and fans in this city care too much about the team to accept poor effort. They're fair game. So usually (though not always) if I'm harshly criticizing a player it's because their effort is bad, like with Ertz on that occasion, or here, or here. On the other hand, they're, you know, human beings, so if you're going to harshly criticize a player you better be right and they better be deserving.
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