Armed with newfound perspective, Eagles’ Parris Campbell is fighting to stay in the NFL

As Parris Campbell felt his NFL career teeter in the balance, he and his wife prayed for patience.

The new Eagles wide receiver endured adversity after joining the New York Giants as a free agent last year, and fell far enough down the depth chart that he didn’t even dress for the Giants’ final five games of the season.

After putting up career numbers with the Indianapolis Colts the previous year in his fourth NFL season since being drafted in the second round out of Ohio State, Campbell’s one-season stint with the Giants led to a tumultuous stretch for him and his family as they wondered about his future in the league.

“I was in a rut, kind of an emotional rut,” said Campbell, listed at 6-foot-1, 205 pounds. “I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of emotional eating, just eating to wash away the pain or whatever. I found myself gaining some weight that I knew I shouldn’t gain.

“When I was inactive, man, I was thinking about so much stuff. I thought about life after football, I thought about if the game was taken away from me completely. I thought about if I did get another opportunity, what I would do with it. It just created a lot of different scenarios and it gave me a different perspective on the game.”

That opportunity has taken shape with the Eagles, who signed Campbell to a one-year deal in March and have given him a chance to compete for the No. 3 receiver spot behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith.

He’ll have to do enough to fend off fellow free-agent signing John Ross and quell general manager Howie Roseman’s potential desire to add further competition through the trade market or in free agency before Week 1. Still, Campbell has gotten the most snaps with the starters through three practices and has had a handful of nice plays, including a “touchdown” catch on a go route in one-on-ones against Darius Slay during Saturday’s practice.

Armed with newfound perspective after contemplating the potential end of his career, Campbell said he came into Eagles camp with a heightened level of resolve.

“I have a bigger chip on my shoulder just based on how things went down last year,” he said. “I felt like, coming off my fourth year, I was coming off my best season thus far in the NFL. I felt like things didn’t connect last year, and that’s fine; every place and every person is not a great fit ... but I carry that chip. I carry that chip on my shoulder, I worked my tail off this offseason — it’s the same as every offseason, but I had that extra bit of motivation coming off last year.”

» READ MORE: Eagles practice observations: Quinyon Mitchell pushing to start; Tyler Steen vacates; DeVonta Smith is pretty good

Campbell finished last season with 20 catches for 104 yards on a Giants team that struggled to find a rhythm in the passing game. Coming off a career-best 63 catches for 623 yards and three touchdowns with the Colts in 2022, he saw his playing time dwindle with the Giants and wasn’t named to their active roster on game days from Game 13 through the end of the season.

Struggling with the uncertainty his career faced, Campbell said he relied on his family, most notably his wife, Taylor, to see him through it.

“She was kind of down in the dumps, too, because I was down in the dumps,” Campbell said. “We kind of helped each other, leaned on each other in that moment. She prayed for patience during that time and got shown patience in a different way. I’ve prayed for patience as well and got shown patience in a different way, so we’ve just kind of grown together.”

Starting the offseason in a bad spot both physically and mentally, Campbell began training to shed the weight he’d put on at the end of the season but didn’t truly gain traction until he signed with the Eagles.

» READ MORE: Parris Campbell vies for the Eagles’ speedster WR role and sees Saquon Barkley with this O-line as ‘scary’

In addition to typical drill work and conditioning, Campbell said he added boxing to his training regimen and would work out as many as three times a day.

“In New York, I kind of plateaued, so I didn’t know what to expect in free agency,” he said. “When teams started to roll in and start talking and the Eagles called — I was already working out, but my mind was kind of flustered because I was scared … so when the Eagles called and we got the offer done, it was back. I was like, ‘Alright, I got another shot, I got another opportunity.’

“That’s what some people take for granted in this league. There’s so many people that play ball, so many people want to be where I’m at. Whether I’m at the top of the totem pole or the bottom, you’re here and you have an opportunity. It’s all about what you’re going to do with it. If you’ve got an opportunity, you’ve got hope. If I don’t have an opportunity, I’m sitting somewhere on the couch.”