Eagles turn biggest weakness into potential strength coming back from bye

Eagles turn biggest weakness into potential strength coming back from bye

The Eagles’ edge rusher position has been a weakness for most of the 2025 season, but it’s about to get better.

It’s possible the Eagles have turned their biggest weakness into a strength.

We’ll find out soon enough.

Because when the Eagles play the Packers on Monday Night Football in Week 10 coming off their bye, the outside linebacker position is going to look very different. There’s a chance Jaelan Phillips, Nolan Smith and Brandon Graham all play in that game, which would be a huge boost. Especially because the interior has been good with Jalen Carter, Moro Ojomo and Jordan Davis.

This is a position where the Eagles added Azeez Ojulari and Joshua Uche in free agency on one-year deals but then eventually signed Za’Darius Smith going into Week 2. Even before Smith abruptly retired, edge rusher was a position of need. That proved to be true because the Eagles didn’t just add one player; they brought Graham out of retirement and then traded for Phillips. On top of that, the hope is that Nolan Smith will return from Injured Reserve.

Here’s a look at each player in the edge rusher rotation for the second half of the season:

Jalyx Hunt

The 24-year-old has led the Eagles’ edge rushers in snaps this season. Hunt, in his second NFL season, has started all 8 games and has played 343 snaps (66%) in his first year as a full-time starter. The production hasn’t been overwhelming but he picked up his first sack of the season in Week 8 against the Giants and has been consistently getting pressure. He leads the Eagles in pressures with 30 and is second in QB hits with 8. Not only that, but Hunt is coming on strong. In his last two games, he has a sack, a pick-6 and 14 pressures.

It’s important to note that Hunt (6-3, 252) was starting to play at a high level before the bye week because it’s very possible — even likely — he will improve in the second half of the season. When the Eagles drafted Hunt in the third round out of Houston Christian, we knew he was a raw player and he got better throughout the course of his rookie season. He went from an afterthought in the rotation to a serious playmaker in the playoffs. It’s fair to expect to see more growth in Year 2 and we got a glimpse of it before the bye week.

Nolan Smith

Smith, 24, has been on Injured Reserve with a triceps injury since late September and has missed the last five games. The target for his return was always Monday Night Football against the Packers so we’ll see if the Eagles open up his practice window this week. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from Smith from a health standpoint but if he’s healthy — again, a big if — there’s no doubt Smith will help the Eagles’ defense in the second half of the season. In the first three games, Smith failed to pick up a sack and had just 1 QB hit but he always plays with maximum effort and will always at least be a thumper in the run game.

And we saw him turn it on as a pass rusher last season. Just like Hunt improved a ton in the second half of last season, so did Smith. In fact, in his last 15 games of 2024 (including the playoffs), Smith (6-2, 238) had 10 1/2 sacks, including 4 in the four playoff games before tearing his triceps in Super Bowl LIX. The former first-round pick from Georgia lived up to his draft status last year and if he can get back to that level, it would really help.

Jaelan Phillips

The Eagles on Monday traded away a 2026 third-round pick to acquire Phillips (6-5, 623) from the Dolphins. It was a pretty big splash trade from Howie Roseman to bolster this group. And there’s a chance Phillips can really help. While injuries limited Phillips in 2023 and 2024, he started all 9 games for the Dolphins this season and was one of their better defensive players. Phillips had 3 sacks and 7 QB hits for the Dolphins this season and all that production came in his final 5 games with his former team. He also led the Dolphins with 29 pressures and 12 quick pressures (under 3 seconds).

While Vic Fangio has previously downplayed his involvement in scouting players that Roseman brings in, it stands to reason that Fangio’s success with Phillips played a role in this trade. Fangio coached the Dolphins for just one season in 2023 but Phillips was awesome in his defense. He had 6 1/2 sacks in 8 games before tearing his Achilles. The 2021 first-round pick is still just 26 so he could be a candidate to re-sign to a longer-term deal.

Brandon Graham

Upon his return from retirement, Graham said he never really wanted to retire but the lore of a storybook ending was too hard to pass up. But now the 37-year-old is back and is expected to make his 2025 debut on Monday night in Green Bay. Graham will help but it’s fair to wonder how much. After all, he’s in Year 16, hasn’t played at all this season and is coming off re-tearing his triceps in the Super Bowl.

But Graham was playing at a really high level in 2024 before initially tearing his triceps in Los Angeles in Week 12. Until that point, he had played 311 snaps (46%) and had 3 1/5 sacks, 6 TFLs and 7 QB hits. It’s probably unfair to just expect Graham to return and immediately play at that level but the Eagles aren’t bringing him back to be a rah-rah guy. You do get the added benefit of veteran leadership and on-field juice with Graham, but the Eagles think he can still play.

Joshua Uche

When the Eagles brought in a couple veterans this offseason, most expected former Giants draft pick Azeez Ojulari to be the standout, but Uche outplayed him in training camp and earned a role. Ojulari eventually earned a role too but he’s now on IR with a hamstring injury. Uche, 27, has played in all eight games this season with a total of 204 defensive snaps (39%). He picked up his only sack of the season in Week 7 in the fourth quarter against the Vikings.

Patrick Johnson

The veteran spent most of his 2024 season with the Giants but returned to the Eagles in the offseason and made the team out of camp. Johnson, 27, has played in 7 of 8 games this season and has played 115 defensive snaps (25%). His only sack of the season came in the first game against the Giants in early October. While Johnson has played some on defense, he’s known more for his special teams ability. Despite being inactive for one game, Johnson is fifth on the Eagles in special teams snaps with 136.

Jihaad Campbell

We’ll include the Eagles’ first-round pick because he has been getting snaps on the edge, especially the last couple of weeks. Campbell has played 116 of his 461 snaps on the edge this season, but that has seemingly been more of a product of having need at the position. And with the additions of Phillips, Smith and Graham, that need might not be there anymore. It will be interesting to see how much and where Campbell plays in the second half of the season because Nakobe Dean has performed well since coming back from the PUP list and Zack Baun certainly isn’t coming off the field. But Campbell has been one of the better defensive rookies in the NFL and he needs playing time too.