Week 13 IDP Hits: Nakobe Dean is Killing Jihaad Campbell

Eagles Shake Up Their LB Room

Nakobe Dean’s back.

He hasn’t quite advanced to the playing-time level of last year, when Dean played 92% over his 15 healthy appearances. But last week found him jump from three straight games in the 63-68% range to 84% for the loss at Dallas.

Dean has also delivered a sack in three straight games, with 4 total QB hits over that stretch. That’s especially noteworthy given rookie Jihaad Campbell’s profile entering the league.

Where’d the Pass-Rush Upside Go?

Campbell spent time as both a standup LB and edge rusher at Alabama, and Philly’s early usage indicated some hope that he’d help in that area. 

According to Pro Football Focus, Campbell hit 6+ pass rushes in four of six games before Dean re-entered the defensive picture. But he supplied just 1 QB hit and no sacks over that span. That lack of production likely played into his snap-share decline.

• Week 7: 87%
• Week 8: 40%
• Week 9: Bye
• Week 10: 50%
• Week 11: 34%
• Week 12: 15%

Campbell played just 11 snaps in the Week 12 loss at Dallas, and none of them found him rushing the passer.

At the same time, Philadelphia:

• acquired Edge Jaelan Phillips
• coaxed Edge Brandon Graham out of retirement
• and welcomed Edge Nolan Smith back from IR

Combine that with Dean’s re-emergence, and there’s no room for Campbell.

Eagles LBs Headed for Interesting Offseason

The rookie-year trend for Campbell is disturbing, but it’s way too early to start calling the first-round pick a bust. The upcoming offseason will tell us quite a bit, though.

Dean’s headed for unrestricted free agency ahead of his age-26 season, and it’s tough to see the Eagles being able to afford him. Spotrac projects $25 million in cap space for 2026. But Philly just gave Zack Baun a large extension last offseason. Phillips is set to hit free agency as well, and several other young starters will present extension decisions over the next couple of years.

If the Eagles do retain Dean, it would be pretty damning for Campbell’s outlook. We’ll see how they do treat the position.

And wherever Dean lands, his outlook appears stronger than I expected for a guy with multiple serious injuries behind him. He’s usable in redraft leagues the rest of the way and worth holding in dynasty.

Demetrius Knight Won’t Go Away

Another early-round rookie LB continues his rollercoaster of a debut campaign. Knight’s snap share rebounded from a season-low 57% in Week 10 to 84.5% and 70% the past two games.

The low point found him splitting time near-evenly with veteran journeyman Oren Burks against the Steelers. But that shifted dramatically for the loss to New England.

Thursday night’s game found Burks starting ahead of Knight for the second time in three games, but Knight wound up playing more and notably snagged a fourth-quarter INT.

The playing-time and production fluctuations keep the rookie from being truly usable in most 2025 IDP leagues. Beyond this year? I’ll be very curious to see how Cincinnati treats LB in the offseason. The Bengals currently seem short on answers.

Should We Believe This Breakthrough?

Bengals Edge Joseph Ossai delivered a pair of sacks in Thursday night’s win over Baltimore, amid a season-high 4 QB hits.

Ossai now has 8 hits over just his past four games, after supplying 4 total through the season’s first eight games. And the past two weeks have set season highs in snap share.

It’s still a little tough to buy totally into Ossai. He gave us a similar hot streak late last season but then garnered just a small one-year return in unrestricted free agency and opened this year quietly.

Further challenging his value will be trips to Buffalo and Miami over the next three weeks, neither of which has been a good sack overall this season. (Though the Bills allowed eight sacks their last time out.)

Ultimately, I’ll boost Ossai’s projection some going forward without counting on him as a regular IDP starter.

Ravens Rookie Quietly Keeps Pressure Up

Second-round Baltimore Edge Mike Green didn’t provide a sack in the loss to the Bengals. But he did register a pair of QB hits for the second straight game.

That gives him 2+ in three of his past four contests and at least 1 QB hit in five of the past six weeks. Green also compiled a season-high 5 total pressures (according to PFF) two weeks after setting his previous high in that category.

Green’s Week 14 matchup with Pittsburgh doesn’t look overly attractive, but there’s upside to his Week 15 rematch with the Bengals and a Week 16 home date with the Patriots.

Green also remains intriguing for long-term sack upside in dynasty outfits.

Cancer-Free LB Ready to Go

Broncos LB Alex Singleton has returned to full practice this week after sitting out just one game following surgery for a testicular tumor.

Singleton has spoken this week about being excited to return, and the Week 12 bye undoubtedly helped in his recovery.

I’m assuming he’ll be ready for full duty after what was reportedly a fairly minor operation, and you’ll find Singleton well within starter range of our Week 13 LB rankings for a positive scoring matchup against Washington.

Patriots LT Injury Boosts Outlooks for These Rushers

New England’s Will Campbell landed on IR this week after leaving the Week 12 win over the Bengals on a cart with a knee injury. Throw in the Patriots’ Week 14 bye, and the rookie’s not eligible to play again until Week 18. Here are the matchups he’ll miss:

• Giants
• Bills
• Ravens
• Jets

Giants rookie Edge Abdul Carter looks like the first potential beneficiary. He has played primarily on the right edge over the past two games, with Kayvon Thibodeaux out. Thibs looks likely to miss another game after sitting out practice Thursday and Friday.

Here’s who stands to benefit the ensuing three weeks:

Your Weekly Payton Wilson Update

Let’s close this out with a staple: the latest on Steelers LB Payton Wilson.

Here are the weekly snap shares for Wilson throughout the season (per Pro Football Reference):

• 87.5%
• 86.2%
• 47.3%
• 86.8%
• 65.9%
• 43.4%
• 67.2%
• 84.6%
• 56.2%
• 75.8%
• 61.5%

The down week fit against a Chicago offense that has leaned run since its bye.

Next comes the Bills, who have attempted the league's fourth-most rushes to date vs. a No. 25 ranking in pass attempts. Then comes Baltimore, 27th in neutral pass rate, according to RBSDM.com.

Next Up

Week 13 IDP Waiver Wire: Sack Help From Unexpected Sources

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Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.