Eagles 2025 training camp preview: Edge defender

Over the next couple of weeks (basically whenever there isn’t other news to cover), we’ll take a look at every player on the Philadelphia Eagles’ roster, and how they fit with the team heading into training camp. Today we’ll look at the edge defenders.

Previous training camp previews

Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver
Tight end / Fullback | Offensive tackle | Guard | Center

This is group undergoing transition, as the team lost Brandon Graham to retirement and Josh Sweat in free agency. They also traded an unhappy and even more unproductive Bryce Huff. First, the depth chart:

Nolan Smith

Smith was a 2023 first-round pick (31st overall), but he avoided high expectations as a rookie because the Eagles employed Haason Reddick, Josh Sweat, and Brandon Graham on the edge. He was not expected to have a major role in the defense, and sure enough, he didn’t, but he also played considerably less than is ideal for a player drafted so highly. Still, when Smith got his opportunities, he didn’t often capitalize on them, making more mistakes than impact plays.

In 2024, Smith got out to a slow start, but the light seemed to come on for him after the Week 5 bye. In the 15 games he played from October on, Smith had 10.5 sacks, a pair of forced fumbles, and he did a lot of the dirty work in the defense like taking on pulling guards and burying them. He also led the NFL with four postseason sacks.

Last season was a breakout year for Smith, and he will head into camp as the Eagles’ top edge rusher.

Jalyx Hunt

Hunt was viewed as something of a developmental prospect with a high ceiling when the Eagles selected him out of Houston Christian in the third round. For the first 10 games of his rookie season, Hunt played a grand total of 42 snaps, all of which came in garbage time blowouts.

But when Bryce Huff went on IR with a wrist injury, Hunt got an opportunity to play meaningful snaps, and he never looked lost. When Huff returned from IR, Vic Fangio had seen enough good things from Hunt that he remained in the edge rusher rotation, while Huff rode the bench.

Over the final 10 games of the season (playoffs included), Hunt played 279 snaps, or just under 28 per game. In those 10 games, he had 31 tackles, three sacks, and two forced fumbles.

We already knew Hunt was an athlete. I mean, he’s a former safety turned edge rusher. But what we learned last season is that he’s smart, he’s takes pride in playing the run, he has a great motor, and he got after the quarterback quite a bit in the playoffs.

During spring practices, Hunt sort of took over for Graham as the energy guy during practices. He was all over the field, giving full-on effort on every play. I’m sure the coaching staff loves him. He’ll likely start opposite Smith.

Azeez Ojulari

Ojulari signed with the Eagles in free agency this offseason. He was a Giants second-round pick during the Dave Gettleman era. As we have seen in recent years, Giants GM Joe Schoen has made weak efforts to retain Gettleman picks, like Saquon Barkley, Xavier McKinney, and Julian Love, who have gone on to be much better players with their new teams than they were when they played for the Giants.

Ojulari had a frustrating four years with the Giants. He had a promising rookie season when he had 8 sacks, followed by a 2022 season in which he only played in 7 games, but had 5.5 sacks. He had a disappointing 2023 season, when he only played in 11 games and had just 2.5 sacks, perhaps spurring Schoen to trade for Brian Burns.

In 2024, Ojulari was behind Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the depth chart, but had 5 sacks in a 3-game span while Thibodeaux was out of the lineup with an injury. Here are some highlights in one of those three games, against the Steelers (video via @nickfalato): 

He seemed to have carved out a more regular role in the rotation because of his play, but he injured his toe and missed the final six games of the season. In his four-year career, Ojulari has missed time because of injuries to his toe, ankle, hamstring, quad, ankle, and calf. 

In short, Ojulari has been productive when healthy, but he has been unable to stay on the field. He checks a lot of boxes on the types of high upside lottery tickets that Howie Roseman hunts for:

1. Former high pick
2. Career stalled due to injury or some other circumstance
3. Flashes of production when healthy

For example, guys like Mekhi Becton, Kenny Pickett, DeVante Parker, Parris Campbell, and Devin White fit that profile last offseason. Some hit, some don’t. That strategy looks great when you hit on guys like Becton. The Eagles hope that they will hit on at least one of Ojulari or Josh Uche.

Ojulari was actually the Eagles’ most expensive outside free agent signing this offseason. They liked him enough that they signed him even if it meant losing a 2026 compensatory pick to do so. He’s probably the third edge rusher on the totem pole, poised to be an important role player, assuming no other personnel moves are made on the edge the rest of the offseason.

Josh Uche

Like Ojulari, Uche signed with the Eagles during free agency this offseason. He was a Patriots second-round pick in 2020. He had his best season in 2022, when he had 11.5 sacks. His career stats: 

As you can see, the 11.5-sack season aside, Uche never had more than 3 sacks in any one season. During the 2024 season, the Patriots traded Uche to the Chiefs for a sixth-round pick. He never found a productive role in Kansas City, and was a healthy scratch during the Super Bowl.

Uche is an undersized edge defender at 6’1, 240, and in theory has some off ball linebacker versatility, though the Eagles will use him initially on the edge.

Antwaun Powell-Ryland

Powell-Ryland is a sixth-round rookie, and was the final pick of the Eagles’ 2025 draft class. He finished with 16 sacks in 2024, third-most in the nation. He is a speed rusher with a nice repertoire of pass rush moves who finishes violently at the quarterback. In addition to his 16 sacks in 2024, Powell-Ryland had 9.5 sacks in 2023. That is impressive production.

Powell-Ryland’s downside is that he was not blessed with impressive physical measurables. He has above average athleticism, but a severe lack of length at 6’2 5/8″ and 31 1/4″ arms. His arms are longer than just 2% of players competing at the Combine since 1999. 

With that lack of length, it is going to be challenging for Powell-Ryland to set the edge in the run game against much bigger offensive tackles, and he may be limited to situational pass rusher duty.

Powell-Ryland does seem to know what he is as a pass rusher, because he works around his lack of length. If you watch his highlight reels, you’ll see that he does a great job of knocking down linemen’s arms and then getting around them with speed and twitchy counters. He also savvy at picking his spots with bull rushes. A highlight reel: 

He actually reminds me a little of Bryce Huff, who does have pass rush talent but for whatever reason was clearly disinterested in playing to his capabilities for the Eagles in 2024. Powell-Ryland seems to be a hard worker with a good motor.

Patrick Johnson

The Eagles originally selected Johnson in the seventh round of the 2021 draft. Johnson stuck on the Eagles’ roster for three seasons, but he was waived at 53-man cutdowns in 2024 and claimed off of waivers by the Giants. Had Johnson cleared waivers, the Eagles would have very likely brought him back to the practice squad and elevated him at some point. I don’t want to speak for the man, but I assume Johnson would have preferred to play on the practice squad of a Super Bowl-winning team than being stuck with the sorry-ass Giants for a full season.

Johnson has mainly been a special teams contributor / preseason all-star throughout his four-year NFL career. In three season with the Eagles he had 35 tackles and a forced fumble. In one season with the Giants he had 4 tackles.

KJ Henry

Henry was a Commanders fifth-round pick out of Clemson in 2023. He was a five-star recruit out of high school (ranked 26th nationally by Rivals, 6th by ESPN), who was a regular in the Clemson defense for four seasons. He’s 6’4, 255, with below average athletic testing measurables, and he didn’t post good sack production (13 sacks and 2 forced fumbles in 48 career games) in college. He did have 6 batted passes in 2022.

Henry plays with great energy and he has some upside as a pass rusher, but was thought of as a liability setting the edge against the run coming out of college. Off the field, he was considered one of the highest character prospects in the draft, for good reason.

Henry played in 10 games with the Commanders as a rookie, with 3 starts. He had 19 tackles and 1.5 sacks. He was waived at final cutdowns by the Commanders in 2024, and claimed off of waivers by the Bengals, where he played in two games before the Bengals waived him and added him back to the practice squad. The Cowboys later poached Henry from the Bengals’ practice squad, and he appeared in two games, collecting 3 tackles and a sack. He was once again waived by Dallas after they got edge rushers Micah Parsons and Marshawn Kneeland back from injury.

The Eagles signed Henry to their practice squad last season after Brandon Graham went down with his triceps injury.

Ochaun Mathis

Mathis was a Rams sixth-round pick in 2023. He appeared in one game as a practice squad callup for the Eagles last season, and made 1 tackle.