He didn’t come right out and say it, but Howie Roseman admitted that Jihaad Campbell won’t be starting the season on time. The first-round draft pick may not even be ready for training camp.

The Eagles’ general manager went on the 94WIP afternoon show and preached patience with Campbell.

“I think we can be a little patient here and make sure this guy is right because that’s what we’re gonna do is make sure he’s right and we’re going to have a heckuva player for the Philadelphia Eagles for a long time,” he said.

It was really just Roseman doubling down on what he said after the draft, that Campbell is “a long-term investment.”

Earlier, on Sirius radio, he said: “We don’t look like it, you know, what’s gonna happen the day training camp starts. We look at it in the short term and the long term, and we feel like over the long term this guy is going to be playing the same level of football that he was playing at the University of Alabama, and we will do whatever we can to get him right as quickly as possible.”

Campbell had left shoulder surgery to repair a labrum injury in March. It’s typically a six- to 12-month recovery from such surgery. If the timeframe is six months, because Campbell is an elite athlete, that still puts him on track not to return until September at the earliest.

It’s also been reported that Campbell has issues with both shoulders and both knees, so maybe some time to recuperate, rest, and heal is in the plan going forward.

“There’s no chance that if he wasn’t coming off offseason shoulder surgery, he wouldn’t have been within distance for us to get because he’s that talented of a guy,” said Roseman on 94WIP. “I think over the last couple of years, our medical staff has proven their success with guys. That doesn’t mean we’re going to be perfect, but we were very confident even when we thought he was just a top 10 player in the draft and we wouldn’t come close to him.”

Roseman compared the situation with Cooper DeJean last year, though added that it wasn’t an “apples to apples” comparison.

DeJean suffered a hamstring injury at some point before training camp opened and that delayed his start. The defensive back and second-round pick a year ago didn’t return until the final week of the preseason. Even then, the Eagles proceeded slowly with him.

It wasn’t until Week 6, when the Eagles emerged from their Week 5 bye week that Dejean was inserted into the starting lineup.

“How did that work out?” questioned Roseman rhetorically.

The Eagles would be fortunate if Campbell followed the same script and returned in late August to begin ramping up for an early-season return. Even if he doesn’t, Roseman was still comfortable drafting Campbell with the 31st overall selection.

“You are going to love this player and this person in Philadelphia,” he said. “I couldn’t be more excited that we were able to get him in this draft class.”