Eagles’ Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is ready for his shot on defense. Just ask his teammates, ex-coaches ... and proud dad

Jeremiah Trotter Sr. found out that his son, Jeremiah Jr., was supposed to rotate at inside linebacker with Jihaad Campbell against the Jacksonville Jaguars the same way everyone else did — from Zack Baun, after the game.

The elder Trotter, an Eagles Hall of Fame linebacker, did not make the trip to London but saw a post on X from a reporter relaying the news regarding his son, typically a reserve, that Baun shared from the locker room at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Trotter Sr. reached out to Trotter Jr. to confirm it, but he said his son didn’t know anything about the plan, either.

Trotter Jr. then confirmed it directly with Baun. The All-Pro inside linebacker had officially learned of the rotation on the Saturday night before the game from his position coach, Bobby King. Baun said Wednesday that he already had a sense Trotter might play on defense during the week based on the distribution of reps during practice.

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Regardless, that plan for Trotter and Campbell to split snaps alongside Baun never came to fruition, as Trotter was ejected after the opening kickoff following his scrum with Jaguars defensive end Bryan Thomas Jr.

“When I heard about it, I definitely was like, ‘Dang, I feel like that could’ve been an opportunity I could’ve used,’” Trotter said. “But at the same time, I’m the type of person, I don’t like to harp on or stay lingering on things that can’t be changed. It was over and done with.”

The Eagles weren’t over and done with their plan to incorporate Trotter into the defense. Vic Fangio said on Tuesday that Trotter “deserves playing time” following his strong performance in his first non-Week 18 career start in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Rams in place of Baun, who was out with a concussion. He played all 84 defensive snaps in that game, leading the team with 15 tackles.

Now, Trotter will get another look in the middle of the Eagles defense in a rotation with Campbell on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. Fangio, the Eagles defensive coordinator, offered a little insight into how he would split the snaps between the two players, stating he would do so “by series, kind of,” rather than by situation.

While Trotter has primarily been a core-four special teams player for the Eagles since they selected him in the fifth round of the 2024 draft out of Clemson, he has heeded the advice that his father has shared with him regularly regarding his role on defense.

“In this game, you’ve got to always be ready,” Trotter Sr. said. “He’s a professional. They’re all professionals. So it’s your job to be ready, no matter what role you play. If your number’s called, and we play a violent sport. Guys go down all the time. And it’s his job to be ready. And I think he’s done a really good job of that.”

After Trotter Sr. retired following the 2009 season, he traded his cleats for a clipboard, coaching his sons, Jeremiah Jr. and Josiah, in youth football and at St. Joseph’s Prep.

From the Prep, to Clemson, to the Eagles, Jeremiah Jr. stayed focused on the same goal instilled within him by his father — to dominate in his role.

Trotter was never immediately handed the starting job on defense at any stop. In his freshman year of high school, Trotter started out on the kickoff team. In college, he started out on the punt and kickoff units. He did more of the same when he joined the Eagles in 2024. Trotter has become one of the Eagles’ most productive special teams players, playing 332 special-teams snaps last season and tying for the team high with 18 special-teams tackles.

Whatever the role, Trotter embraced it, all the while staying ready for his next opportunity, his father said.

“He doesn’t shy away from the process, he doesn’t shy away from the work, and he doesn’t shy away from the competition,” Trotter Sr. said. “But ultimately, he’s a team guy first, and that’s where all the players should be. It should be team guys first. And when you’re given an opportunity, you make the most of that opportunity.”

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That sense of maturity that Trotter Jr. brought to his preparation made a strong first impression on Dabo Swinney, his head coach at Clemson. When Trotter was a freshman, Swinney said he could have mistaken him for a senior, solely based on his work ethic. He noted just how quickly Trotter picked up the defensive scheme as a freshman – which was “a lot to learn for a young guy” – even when he wasn’t playing on defense right away.

That diligence applied to everything he did, not just football. Despite leaving Clemson for the NFL following his junior year, Trotter graduated this past summer with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. That didn’t surprise Swinney, who harps on the importance of putting in the work behind the scenes with his players.

“I always tell these guys success isn’t always what you see,” Swinney said. “You’ve got to be a champion before you become a champion. You have to prepare yourself before you get the opportunity. You can’t just get the opportunity and start preparing. And he’s the epitome of that.”

Trotter combined preparation with instincts to overcome his relatively small size at the position, Swinney said. At 6-foot, 228 pounds going into the draft, Trotter ranked in the 10th percentile in height and 12th percentile in weight among linebackers, according to MockDraftable.

His instincts were unquantifiable, though. Football was Trotter’s world growing up, Swinney said, which helped shape his understanding of the game early in his life. Those instincts were at the foundation of every play he made, as he worked his way into becoming a two-time All-American.

The play that best encapsulated Trotter’s instincts, according to Swinney, was his pick-six in Clemson’s upset win over Notre Dame in 2023, his junior season. Swinney said Trotter read the play “perfectly” based on film study, sitting in his zone in the middle of the field, jumping the out route, and returning the ball 28 yards for a touchdown.

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“He is a gym rat when it comes to the game, and I just think it’s how he was brought up, how he was raised,” Swinney said. “And when you love something, you just naturally go above and beyond with it. And then when you have skills like he has, and you put the work ethic and the knowledge, all that together, man, you become a very instinctive player.”

It became apparent to Jordan Mailata that Trotter could start in most NFL defenses at the outset of his rookie year in 2024.

The Eagles left tackle came away with that impression in practice, when Trotter was on the scout team going up against the Eagles starting offense, with Baun and Nakobe Dean ahead of him on the depth chart. Trotter was supposed to be mimicking the linebacker on the opposing defense that week, but occasionally, he would make plays based on his own instincts.

“We were like, ‘Bro, what the f—?’” Mailata said. “We were getting mad. Like, ‘What the f— is this kid doing?’ It’s like, ‘That’s not what they’re going to do. You’re not reading [the] card,’ but he just made so many instinctual plays, and he would do it.

“We’d give him the card. ‘Hey, play it like this,’ and he was like, ‘All right, I’ll play it,’ We want him to flow to the right, and he’ll take one step, recognize [the play], and just hit it.”

Again, Trotter was heeding his father’s advice to make the most of his opportunities, including on the scout team.

“I always told him, ‘Listen, you’re going against starters,’” Trotter Sr. said. “‘You’re going against one of the best offensive lines in the National Football League.’ Super Bowl champion offense his first two years. So I said, ‘You get an opportunity to go against starters each and every day. You go out there and put in the work. When you get in the game, you ain’t got to worry about it.’”

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But Mailata asserted that Trotter Jr. isn’t the only party improving through those practice experiences.

“I think we benefit the most, because Trot should be starting,” Mailata said. “Probably could start anywhere in this league, and we’re really fortunate that we have that depth at linebacker, and so when he’s on our look team, he doesn’t feel sorry for us. He’s making plays, and that’s just the tempo he practices with.”

Baun has watched Trotter’s confidence and understanding of the defense grow year over year. In years past, when King would ask Baun how he would want to play a certain call, he would turn to Dean and ask him how they both would attack it. Now, he turns to both Trotter and Campbell with that same situation, acknowledging that both players have had more input in the linebacker room.

Trotter’s confidence has grown, but his belief in himself never wavered. He said that he has always viewed himself as a starter, even when he has been serving in a backup role.

“You got to have that belief in yourself that you can go out there and do what you need to do to make plays and be a baller out there, and I’m just going to try to utilize this opportunity to just continue to show my coaches, my teammates, continue to build their trust and respect on my play out there,” Trotter said.

That process continued against the Rams. He said he was happy about his performance, but he also acknowledged that he has room to grow. He noted his missed tackle on Rams running back Kyren Williams’ game-winning 7-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter was a play he would like back.

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Trotter will have an opportunity to put those improvements into action against the Panthers. But his precise role will be different this time around. Trotter wore the green dot as the defense’s play-caller two weeks ago, but Baun will resume those duties on Sunday. Additionally, when Baun and Campbell are on the field, Campbell will occasionally line up on the edge in certain pressure packages. When Baun and Trotter are together, Baun takes on those responsibilities.

Regardless, Trotter Sr. is eager to watch Trotter Jr. take snaps on defense — even if he isn’t physically in attendance at the game. He has a good reason. This weekend, he will make the trip to Tampa, Fla., to watch Josiah, his youngest child, play for the Buccaneers in their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Two weeks ago, Trotter Sr. watched Trotter Jr. play against the Rams at 1 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field and watched Josiah and the Bucs play against the Green Bay Packers on his iPad at the same time. He told both of his sons in the aftermath of their simultaneous games that it was one of the proudest moments that he’s ever had as a father.

He will get to relive that moment again on Sunday, but this time he’ll do the inverse, attending Josiah’s game in-person and watching Jeremiah Jr.’s game on the iPad.

“I just be shuffling like that, man,” Trotter Sr. said. “Let me tell you something. It’s a great problem to have. If it’s a problem that I will face every day, I’ll take it.”

Trotter Sr. doesn’t watch his sons’ games casually like most fans. From his seat at the Linc two weeks ago, Trotter Sr. said he was picking apart Trotter Jr.’s game, just like he did as his coach in high school. But he understands that there’s nothing he can do from the crowd.

“You just have to trust that he’s put in the work,” Trotter Sr. said. “He’s put in the work that he needs to put in, and that all the things that you’ve taught him over the years, you’re like a voice in the back of his mind. Like, ‘You know what? I remember my dad saying this, or my coach saying this. I remember these things,’ and you just trust God and go out and play.”

Trotter Jr.’s persistence and patience on his way to more opportunity is evidence that he is still listening to that voice.

Listen to the latest episode

The Eagles are back from London, looking to leave the disappointment of a last-second defeat behind while choosing instead to focus on lessons they can learn from a third straight loss. And you know what? The Inquirer’s Jeff McLane actually thinks there were encouraging takeaways from the game, outcome aside. He and Mike Sielski discussed why the Eagles’ sky, despite being gray, isn’t falling just yet, and what the team can build on to if it hopes to reverse its fortunes during a key stretch of the schedule that begins Sunday.  Listen here.

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