July 07, 2026
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Jonathan Greenard #52 of the Philadelphia Eagles performs a drill during a Philadelphia Eagles minicamp at the Jefferson Health Training Complex on May 27, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia Eagles training camp begins at the end of July, so over the next few weeks we'll detail what we need to see from each positional group heading into the 2026 season. We'll continue on today with the edge defenders.
Previous training camp previews
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver
Tight end | Offensive tackle | Interior OL
First, the depth chart:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Jalyx Hunt | Nolan Smith | A.J. Epenesa | Jose Ramirez |
| Jonathan Greenard | Arnold Ebiketie | Keyshawn James-Newby | Joshua Weru |
• Jonathan Greenard battled through a shoulder injury in 2025, which eventually ended his season and required surgery. He'll get a fresh start in Philly after the Eagles traded a pair of third-round picks for him while also agreeing to a new deal worth $84 million.
That's a pretty bold bet on a player who just turned 29 in May, but the Eagles obviously believe that Greenard will return to his 2023 and 2024 form, when he had a combined 24.5 sacks. His career stats:
| Season | Tackles (TFL) | Sacks | FF-FR | QB hits |
| 2020 | 19 (2) | 1.0 | 0-0 | 3 |
| 2021 | 33 (9) | 8.0 | 2-0 | 12 |
| 2022 | 16 (6) | 1.5 | 0-0 | 4 |
| 2023 | 52 (15) | 12.5 | 1-0 | 22 |
| 2024 | 59 (18) | 12.0 | 4-0 | 22 |
| 2025 | 38 (10) | 3.0 | 1-0 | 12 |
As you can see, he had a down year in 2025 after two great seasons.
Greenard played on a good Vikings defense, but he didn't play alongside the caliber of players the Eagles employ along the interior of their defensive line. He should get more than his share of one-on-one matchups this season.
In the past we have seen newcomers like Bryce Huff get absolutely dominated in camp by Lane Johnson and Jordan Mailata. It'll be interesting to see if Greenard can win his share of reps against the Eagles' elite offensive tackle tandem in camp.
• Jalyx Hunt had a breakout season in 2025, as he improved as a pass rusher and put his safety background to good use, making some huge plays in coverage. Hunt was considered a project player coming out of college, but he has very quickly made an impact in the NFL, and has a chance to take another step forward in 2026. He is in line to start this season opposite Greenard.
• Last year's top edge defender heading into camp was Nolan Smith, who was coming off a breakout season of his own in 2024.
However, he did not have the season that he or the Eagles were hoping for, as he missed five games after aggravating a triceps injury that he suffered in the previous year's Super Bowl. He was also on a pitch count upon his return.
Smith is an undersized edge defender and he plays a rugged brand of football. His hard-nosed style of play is what is appealing about his game, but it is also detrimental to his health and durability. During the spring, Smith looked a little bulked up. He was not made available to the media during spring camps, so we weren't able to ask about his seemingly added heft, or, you know, his arrest for being clocked at 135 MPH this offseason.
If Smith did indeed add some weight, that could theoretically help him absorb / dish out contact with less risk of injury, but could also negatively affect his impressive athleticism.
The 2026 season is an important one for Smith and his long-term standing with the team, and he has to prove himself again.
• Arnold Ebiketie signed with the Eagles this offseason on a one-year deal. The Eagles also had interest in him at the trade deadline last season but were able to reel in a bigger fish in Jaelan Phillips.
Ebiketie is undersized, but has some explosive athletic traits:
He also has some pass rush talent, shown in the below highlight reel (video via Al Karsten):
However, he only has 16.5 sacks in his first four NFL seasons after he was a second-round pick in 2022:
| Arnold Ebiketie | Tackles (TFL) | Sacks | QB hits | FF |
| 2022 | 30 | 2.5 | 11 | 2 |
| 2023 | 25 | 6 | 12 | 2 |
| 2024 | 38 | 6 | 12 | 0 |
| 2025 | 36 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| TOTAL | 129 | 16.5 | 41 | 4 |
Ebiketie had some pockets of success in 2023 and 2024, when he had 6 sacks each season. His numbers were down in 2025 because the Falcons selected a pair of edge rushers in the first round of the 2025 draft in Jalon Walker and James Pearce; and they signed Leonard Floyd in free agency.
Like Greenard above, Ebiketie should get some more favorable pass rush opportunities with the Eagles than he did with his old team.
• A.J. Epenesa is the opposite of guys like Smith and Ebiketie, in that he is a big edge defender at 6'5, 275, but with less impressive athleticism:
Epenesa played six seasons in Buffalo after the Bills selected him in the second round of the 2020 draft. He has 24 career sacks, mostly operating as a rotational guy. He is more of a power rusher.
Epenesa signed a one-year deal with the Browns this offseason worth $5 million, which was nixed after he failed his physical. The Eagles signed him in June closer to the veteran minimum. They'll get a cheap look at him in camp.
• If seventh-round rookie Keyshawn James-Newby is going to crack the roster, he'll likely have to do so on special teams, perhaps in something of a Patrick Johnson-like role. He does have 4.51 speed that should translate to special teams in the pros. He'll also have to show something as a pass rusher. Last camp, sixth-round rookie Antwaun Powell-Ryland did nothing whatsoever in camp, but had one great preseason game. That wasn't enough for him to stick on the roster.
• In the seventh round of the draft, the Eagles selected Uar Bernard, an extremely athletic prospect from Nigeria who has never played football. Bernard wasn't the only uber-athletic International Pathway Program athlete that the Eagles added. Joshua Weru dazzled scouts at the HBCU showcase as well:
I don't want to make too much of a short drill video, but Weru actually has some good football movement skills there. The Eagles will be allowed to designate either Bernard or Weru as a roster-exempt International Pathway Program player, so they'll have 91 players in camp.
• Jose Ramirez was a Buccaneers sixth-round pick in 2023. He has appeared in four games (30 defensive snaps), no stats. In 2025, Ramirez played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the CFL. He had 4 tackles and a sack in 3 games.
• To be determined if Brandon Graham will be back. He was a useful player for the Eagles last season, playing both on the edge and on the interior.
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