NFL draft analyst breaks down Jihaad Campbell, Malachi Moore
Two of Alabama’s top tacklers from last year’s team will soon be selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Linebacker Jihaad Campbell and defensive back Malachi Moore are two of the Crimson Tide’s 11 draft hopefuls this year, and NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah likes them both.
Campbell could be the first Alabama player off the board when Round 1 kicks off on Thursday, April 24. Jeremiah projected the New Orleans Saints to choose the Tide’s leading tackler with the No. 9 overall pick in his latest mock draft. During a conference call with reporters on Friday, Jeremiah was asked about Campbell as an option for the Cincinnati Bengals.
“Jihaad Campbell, I love,” Jeremiah said. “He’s physically beat up coming into the process, so you have to have your medical group be comfortable there that he’s going to be fine and once we get to the season. To me, he’s dynamic. He’s versatile off the ball, on the ball. Big-time speed.
“For a team that’s going to be playing against Baltimore and trying to climb that mountain every year, I think he matches up well with them, when you think about somebody who can come downhill and get Derrick Henry on the ground. You could spy him against Lamar (Jackson). And he can close down and try and suck him up on the perimeter.
“And then if you want to, you can let him rush off the edge. So he can do a lot of different things. I think he would be a heck of a pick there if he were to get to pick No. 17.”
Campbell, a junior, declared for the draft two days after Alabama’s 2024 season concluded. A two-year starter at inside linebacker, Campbell led the Tide defense with 117 total tackles last year. He appeared in 35 games and 21 starts over his 3-year career at Alabama.
Moore, a fifth-year senior, exhausted his eligibility this season after playing in 64 career games. Returning in 2024 thanks to a free COVID year, Moore appeared in and started 12 games for Alabama before having surgery prior to the bowl game. A two-time team captain, he registered 70 tackles, two forced fumbles, two interceptions and a sack in his final year.
Moore isn’t among Jeremiah’s top 50 prospects, but the veteran defensive back should hear his name called next week. Where exactly? The longtime draft analyst provided his thoughts.
“He’s a good football player,” Jeremiah said. “He didn’t have elite size or anything like that, but he can cover in the slot. He can play in the middle of the field. He flashes some range there in the back half.
“To me, the question is just how much pure make-up speed does he have? For me the range that I have him in is kind of in that fourth-, fifth-round range. There’s a good bit of safeties in that kind of clump in there, but that’s about the range where I see him coming off of the board.
“In terms of teams, to me, I view him more as a third safety, third or fourth safety, who is going to be a part of your sub-packages and play on special teams and try and earn his way up the depth chart. I mean, every team could use someone like him, but that’s fourth, fifth round is about the range where I specifically have him.”
The 2025 NFL Draft begins on Thursday, April 24, and runs through Saturday, April 26.
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