First-Year Eagles Defender Unfamiliar With Hometown Fans, But His Dad Isn't

One of the Philadelphia Eagles' newest players spent his career in the AFC, and doesn't know how crazy Eagles fans get at games, but his dad knows them well from his time at the Super Bowl.

Josh Uche meets with reporters after Day 4 of Eagles training camp. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Emmanuel Uche showed up in New Orleans for Super Bowl LIX and took to the Bourbon Street wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey. That’s when he learned about Eagles fans, who turned out in droves in the French Quarter in the early days of February to watch the Eagles take on the Chiefs, who had on their team Emmanuel’s son, Josh.

Josh Uche painted a Michelangelo-like masterpiece in recalling the story.

“Mind you, my dad is a Nigerian immigrant, still heavy accent, right?” said Uche, about to play his first game as an Eagle on Thursday night against the Cowboys. “He’s got this Chiefs jersey on and walking the streets of Bourbon Street – I’m trying to paint the picture for you guys. And you got guys from Philly just giving him the business.”

The business remained open through the game inside the Caesars Superdome on Feb. 9, and didn’t close for several hours, a party spilling into the streets after the Eagles blowout of the Chiefs, 40-22.

“He’s a no-nonsense guy, so he comes up to me and he says, I got into it with these Philly guys and one of them was standing up in front of me the whole game, I couldn’t see,” said Uche, who said his dad went on and on about Eagles fans. “I was like, oh (bleep), maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to have my dad come out. But now we’re on the right side and we have his intensity, his passion and his high energy now on the right side.”

Emmanuel and other Uche family members have exchanged their Chiefs jerseys for Eagles jerseys and will be in attendance on Thursday. How much they will see of Johs remains to be seen, since he is a backup to starters Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt.

“I’m just being ready in all phases for whatever’s asked of me to get the job,” he said.

Uche Doesn't Know ABout Eagles-Cowboys Rivalry...Yet

Eagles' defenders Josh Uche (0), Jihaad Campbell (30), and Dallas Gant (57) at practice on July 28, 2025 | John McMullen/Eagles On SI

He doesn’t have much history playing against the Cowboys because he spent the first five years of his career in the AFC. Uche couldn’t even remember ever playing in front of an Eagles crowd at Lincoln Financial Field. He said there may have been one time in a preseason game when he was with New England.

When asked about his knowledge of Eagles-Cowboys, he brought up Terrell Owens and the time TO caught two touchdown passes against the Cowboys in a 2000 game and sprinted to midfield to stand on the Dallas star with his arms spread wide in celebration. The second time Owens did it, he got drilled by Cowboys DB George Teague. Owens, though, was a member of the 49ers at the time.

Uche was 2 when TO did that, so he must’ve seen a highlight of the play as he got older. That’s ancient history, though. For Uche, who turns 27 in two weeks, it’s about now. He signed a one-year deal, hoping to do well enough to earn another contract either back in Philly or somewhere else.

“I’m taking it one step at a time, day by day, starting from OTAs up to this point in time,” he said. “You can’t control the past, you can’t control the future, all you can worry about is right now. So, being where my feet are.”

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