Ranking the 25 Best Eagles: Josh Sweat Races Around the Edge to No. 10
His reputation hasn’t quite matched the production just yet but the ascending Josh Sweat performed well enough in the 2021 season to earn the No. 10 spot on SI's Eagles Today list of the 25 best players in Philadelphia.
A slightly more meaningful validation for Sweat was the three-year, $40 million contract extension he signed in September of last year.
From there Sweat gave his own rubber-stamp to Howie Roseman’s projection by putting up career-highs in both playing time (58% of the defensive snaps) and sacks with a total of 7.5, the latter matching Javon Hargrave for the team lead in a season Philadelphia found it very difficult to get to opposing quarterbacks in general.
The process behind the list started with Eagles Today site publisher Ed Kracz and staff writer John McMullen putting together their top 25 lists independent of each other’s and then assigning point values, with 25 points awarded to the player ranked first on each list, 24 to the player ranked second, and so on, with one point going to the player that was put 25th.
The highest ranking from either reporter broke any ties in the balloting.
Sweat finished with 31 votes overall, edging out fellow edge rusher Brandon Graham thanks to a No. 8 finish on McMullen's list due to his upside moving forward. Kracz was more tempered with Sweat but still had the Florida State product at No. 13 overall.
Once one of the top high-school recruits in the nation en route to Florida State, a catastrophic leg injury in which Sweat dislocated his knee along with tearing his ACL at the end of his prep career changed the trajectory of his football ascent.
Dreams of dominating for the Seminoles before being a top-10 selection in the NFL draft were replaced by the long road of getting right from a health standpoint and the more difficult path a fourth-round pick faces.
Through it all, though, Sweat was straight out of central casting when it came to what the NFL looked for in edge rushers at 6-foot-5 and 265 pounds with impressive length and athleticism.
Just as all the question marks over his leg went to the back burner, Sweat felt what he described as a heavy abdomen before the Eagles’ ugly 31-15 playoff loss to Tampa Bay back in January.
It was revealed Sweat would be unable to play against the Bucs with what was described as a "life-threatening situation."
“It was serious,” Sweat said back in the spring. "Just had a little bit of internal bleeding. Not a little bit. A lot. It was enough to pretty much keep me out."
Perhaps the most perplexing part is where the issue came from which Sweat described as an artery that had opened.
“It just came out of nowhere,” he said. “Don’t really know-how. There were no signs. It just kind of happened. ... I was just chilling at the house. It just happened. I started feeling my abdomen get heavy when I stood up. ... I kind of had an artery open up a little bit, so it just kept bleeding.
"They cauterized it, closed it up.”
What could have been tragic was handled in a quick and effective manner and Sweat, 25, should have no issues moving forward.
“I’m fine now," Sweat said noting that team doctors informed him that there is no likelihood that this could be a reoccurring thing. "We took care of the issue. I’m back to 100 [percent]. Ready to start working again.”
Sweat said he could have played the next week if the Eagles somehow upset Tampa Bay and that sentiment was somewhat bolstered when the Chesapeake, Virginia native returned to participate in his first Pro Bowl as the youngest Eagles player honored since Lito Sheppard went as a 23-year-old cornerback in 2004.
"I felt like the little guy [at the Pro Bowl next to all the veteran stars],” Sweat smiled. That’s motivation [to return].”
Moving forward Sweat, along with high-profile, free-agent pickup Haason Reddick, is expected to spearhead what looks like a deep and potentially difference-making pass rush for Jonathan Gannon.
"The more rushers the better," Gannon said. "We'll figure that out as we get closer to game day and then on game day how we deploy those guys. But the more guys that we have that can affect the quarterback, we'll get them on the field and have them affect the quarterback."
While there are many questions over how Gannon will utilize his front and how many odd-man looks vs. four-man fronts there will be, Sweat should be a cornerstone no matter how Gannon progresses either as an overhang player pinning his ears back or as a 4i-, 5-, or even 7-technique asked to generate pressure in a more disciplined fashion.
For Sweat, he’ll take the opportunities however they come.
“Obviously I want to have a better season than the previous one every year,” he said. “I want to keep getting better however that is. I just want to keep on improving."
THE COUNTDOWN SO FAR
No. 25 – Jack Driscoll
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No. 24 – Derek Barnett
Ranking the 25 Best Eagles: Derek Barnett Sneaks in at No. 24
No. 23 – Kyzir White
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No. 22 - Quez Watkins
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No. 21 – Jake Elliott
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No. 20 – Isaac Seumalo
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No. 19 – James Bradberry
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No. 18 - Jordan Davis
Ranking the 25 Best Eagles: Jordan Davis Checks in at No. 18
No. 17 - T.J. Edwards
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No. 16 - Miles Sanders
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No. 15 - Landon Dickerson
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No. 14 - Avonte Maddox
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No. 13 - Jalen Hurts
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No. 12 - Javon Hargrave
Ranking the 25 Best Eagles: Javon Hargrave Bull Rushes to No. 12
No. 11 - Brandon Graham
Ranking the 25 Best Eagles: Brandon Graham on the Fringe of the Top 10
No. 10 - Josh Sweat
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
