Former Ole Miss linebacker Chance Campbell is once again looking for a roster after the Philadelphia Eagles released him, closing another chapter in a pro career that has never matched the production he posted in his only season in Oxford, via the NFL transaction wire.
Campbell, a graduate transfer from Maryland, arrived in 2021 and immediately became the heartbeat of the Rebels’ defense.
He started all 13 games, led Ole Miss with 109 tackles, and finished second on the team with 12.5 tackles for loss and six sacks.
He also recovered three fumbles, the most in the SEC, and forced four more. In a year defined by Lane Kiffin’s high-scoring offense, Campbell was the defender who made the stops stick — double-digit tackle games against Alabama, LSU, Liberty, Mississippi State, and Baylor in the Sugar Bowl.
That tape was enough to make him a sixth-round pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2022, the 219th overall selection.
The NFL has been a different story. A knee injury wiped out his rookie season.
He appeared in four games for Tennessee in 2023 and recorded three tackles, mostly on special teams, before another injury sent him to injured reserve.
In August 2024, he tore his ACL and missed the entire season. The Titans did not tender him a qualifying offer the following spring.
Philadelphia gave him a fresh start. The Eagles signed Campbell in August 2025, waived him at final cuts, and brought him back to the practice squad.
He signed a reserve/future contract in January 2026 and spent this past summer competing for a linebacker or special-teams job. A hamstring issue slowed him in camp, and on August 30 the Eagles released him again as part of the cut to 53. He was re-signed to the practice squad the next day.
That foothold did not last. Campbell was elevated for the Week 3 loss at Chicago and recorded one tackle on 11 special-teams snaps, his first regular-season action since 2023.
Days later, he landed on the practice-squad injured list with an undisclosed injury, and the Eagles subsequently released him from the practice squad with an injury settlement. He is a free agent.
For Ole Miss fans, the release is less a surprise than a reminder of how thin the margin is between a standout SEC season and a lasting NFL role. Campbell’s Oxford year still reads like a prototype modern linebacker stat line.
At 26, with a clean college résumé and special-teams experience on his side, another camp invitation is plausible. What Oxford saw in 2021, though, has yet to reappear on Sundays.
