The 'Stars Aligned' For New Eagles Edge Rusher

PHILADELPHIA - There are plenty of levers Eagles GM Howie Roseman can pull before September.

For now, however, free-agent edge rusher Josh Uche could get an opportunity to affect the quarterback with Josh Sweat leaving for Arizona, and Brandon Graham likely headed for retirement.

Set to enter his sixth pro season, Uche hopes to recapture what he found in the 2022 season with New England when he registered 11 1/2 sacks in 38% of the snaps as a situational pass rusher for Bill Belichick.

Since then Uche has a total of five sacks over the last two seasons with 2024 split between the Pats and Kansas City.

“Definitely. Being 26 years old, I’ve got a lot left in the tank,” Uche said Monday via video conference call when asked by Philadelphia Eagles on SI what clicked in 2022 and if he can regain it. “It just comes down to opportunity and getting on the field and doing my job. You know whenever I’m on the field I’ve been effective and I’ve been efficient, so it’s just all about getting on the field and doing my job.”

"Do your job" is a traditional Belichick refrain and one that has obviously resonated with Uche, a 2020 second-round pick out of Michigan.

Last season the AFC champion Chiefs dealt a sixth-round pick to the struggling Pats to get Uche to help bolster the pass rush.

That never unfolded, however, and Uche was only used for 87 defensive snaps with 50 of those coming in the regular season finale where Andy Reid rested his key contributors. In Super Bowl LIX, Uche was inactive when the Eagles routed the Chiefs 40-22.

“I’m not too sure from a personnel standpoint or a schematic standpoint where there was a disconnect,” Uche said when asked about his short stint in K.C.. “At the end of the day, I did what was asked of me to help the team win. But as a football player, you want to be out there with your teammates and your brothers. It was a situation where I was coming in the middle of the season, coming in late and the stars didn’t fully align.”

Uche believes those stars may align in Philadelphia where he enters an edge-rushing picture that figures to be anchored by very young players in Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt, as well as a rebooted Bryce Huff.

“There were a couple of other teams out there interested,” Uche said of his free-agency process. “The Eagles were the best fit for me. They were the passionate in terms of pursuing me and I feel like the history, the Super Bowl, the stars aligned.

"I feel like it’s where God called me to be.”

Uche is already leaning on a fellow Michigan man in Graham to help with his transition.

“BG has been what you call a real OG in the game,” Uche said. “I remember being at Michigan and he’d always come back to the school for Pro Day and then a couple years ago when we played Philly in the season opener I was able to do a jersey swap with him, which was really cool.

“And before I put pen to paper, I DM'd him on Instagram and told him I’m going to be leaning on him with some questions or whatever I might have going on. He’s a legend."

Uche's early scouting report on his new teammates is a strong one.

"Watching [Smith and Hunt] in the Super Bowl, I mean reckless abandonment," said Uche. "I remember a clip of Nolan taking on a pulling guard and just a physical clip and Hunt, I mean just coming off the edge as a young guy. You love to see that. ... And obviously they're coached up very well by coach Wash [Jeremiah Washburn] and coach [Vic] Fangio. That's what you want to see.

"I saw it up close and personal, being at the Super Bowl and I'm just excited to be a part of this group."

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