Why Eagles' Joshua Weru Had His 'Cloud Nine Moment' In First NFL Game

With plenty of defensive snaps to go around thanks to a stumbling offensive outing, this newcomer to the game helped pick up the slack.

Eagles Josh Weru played 30 snaps in the team's first preseason game. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

BALTIMORE – There were plenty of snaps for the defense along the Inner Harbor on Saturday night. Thanks to an embarrassing performance by the offense, which had two first downs and 80 yards of total offense through 55 minutes in their 24-7 loss to the Ravens, the defense was on the field – a lot.

Bodies were needed to defend 76 snaps, especially with a defense that played only one starter. That was Jihaad Campbell, and very briefly; just 14 snaps.

Josh Weru picked up quite a bit of the slack. The outside linebacker was on the field for 30 snaps, and even though he had never played football before arriving from England, where he played rugby, after being born in Nairobi, Kenya, he finished with two QB pressures and one tackle.

Not bad for his first time. Teammate Uar Bernard, another newcomer to the game after growing up in Abuja, Nigeria, played 15 snaps with seemingly little impact.

“It’s hard to say (how they performed), but how exciting for those two guys to be playing in an NFL football game,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “It’s really cool how this thing works out and the opportunities that they get. I thought that they played with really high effort and were into it the entire night.”

Sirianni spotted something off one of Weru’s plays that he highlighted.

“I think Josh had — I know there was a screen pass, but he looked pretty fast coming off the edge there on that one,” said the coach. “I’ll have to study Uar a little bit more. But again, to be able to come out here and play in an NFL game, I think it’s pretty cool, and we’ll evaluate the tape and see where they were.” 

Josh Weru: "Ups And Downs"

Eagles Joshua Weru met with reporters for the first time on Aug. 11, 2026, after being signed via the NFL's International Pathway Program. | Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

Weru was seen after the game in the tunnel with a teammate, who was encouraging him, telling him, ‘Hey man, it was the first time you ever played. You did good, and you’re going to get better.’

“I felt a lot of ups and downs, but I'm just happy to have gone through it,” said Weru, moments later.

“As much as I’m sure I’ll watch some plays and beat myself up about them, knowing that I still put some good things out there it's just, like, I take both of the things as like the wins are showing that I actually have something there. And then the losses are kind of what I can improve on. And I don't think there's a better way to learn apart from actually losing.”

Weru entered the game in the second half, which was what he was told would happen, so he had a chance to watch from the sideline until his number was called.

“It was crazy,” he said. “I was happy that I got to see my teammates go out there first and kind of set the standard because, like, first or second play, A.J. (Epenesa) just sets the edge. And that just woke me up to, yeah, this game is on, and things that I've been doing in training can work because that’s what guys have been doing. It was cool.

" I started off on cloud nine, got brought back down, but I think it's just, again, like learning.”