'Edge-Y' Issue For Eagles

Optimism around the Philadelphia Eagles is running high as the calendar races toward July and eventually the opening of training camps around the NFL.

The reigning Super Bowl LIX champions are exactly that, and the next incarnation of the Eagles will not be defending anything.

Significant turnover in the modern NFL is baked in, meaning the 2025 version of Nick Sirianni’s team will have to carve out its own unique path to “repeat,” a word the Eagles will not be using.

Perhaps no position has experienced greater turnover than the edge, where Super Bowl hero Josh Sweat left for Arizona in free agency, franchise icon Brandon Graham retired on top, and one of Howie Roseman’s few hiccups last season, Bryce Huff, was dealt to San Francisco in a contract dump.

That leaves the top returning edge defenders as ascending third-year player Nolan Smith, who will be returning from a torn triceps in the Super Bowl, and second-year project Jalyx Hunt. The supplements will be prove-it veterans Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche, perhaps sixth-round college producer Antwuan Powell-Ryland, and returning special-teams standout Patrick Johnson.

“The Other Guys,” as defensive coordinator Vic Fangio called them in the spring are practice-squad returnees Ochaun Mathis and K.J. Henry. 

The idea of interior rushers hoping to elevate the group is hampered by the realization that Jalen Carter’s running mate, Milton Williams, broke the back in free agency with New England.

If there is one on-field aspect to the Eagles most likely to derail the grandiose expectations come September, it’s a pass rush where projection and reclamation are the buzzwords entering the grind, not the more comfort-driven idea of demonstrated performance that players like Sweat and Graham have long provided.