Why Howie Roseman Won't Compare Uar Bernard Nor Joshua Weru To Jordan Mailata

The Eagles hoped the rest of the league would see what Philadelphia already knew: two high-upside International Player Pathway prospects who are still learning football.

Aug 28, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Uar Bernard (93) looks on from the bench during the final moments of a loss against the Cincinnati Bengals at Lincoln Financial Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

PHILADELPHIA — Howie Roseman did not pretend it was comfortable.

After the Eagles waived seventh-round defensive tackle Uar Bernard and undrafted edge rusher Joshua Weru to get down to the NFL’s mandated roster limit of 53 players, the front office spent the next 24 hours hoping the rest of the league would see what Philadelphia already knew: two high-upside International Player Pathway prospects who are still learning football. 

In the end, everything worked out for Philadelphia. Both Bernard and Werus cleared waivers and are back on the practice squad.

The Eagles’ GM said there is no easy version of that process when asked how comfortable he felt exposing Bernard and Weru to waivers by Eagles On SI.

“I don’t know that there’s a comfort level in exposing anyone,” Roseman said. “We’re not sitting there and cutting anyone and going, ‘Woohoo, this guy, we’re definitely getting back.’ 

“You don’t know what other teams are thinking. We put a lot of time and effort during this week, not only to looking at what’s going to be out there, but by taking snapshots of what other teams are seeing in our guys, and saying, ‘They don’t have the practices, they don’t have the individual periods, they don’t have these guys in the meeting rooms just like we don’t when we’re looking at other guys.’ Going back and watching the tape and just evaluating the tape and what other teams are seeing, and that’s not an exact science.”

Exchange Students

Aug 22, 2026; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jose Ramirez (43) and linebacker Joshua Weru (46) sack New England Patriots quarterback Behren Morton (15) during the second half at Gillette Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Bernard, a 6-foot-5, 306-pound Nigerian who did not play organized football before this year, was selected by the Eagles at No. 251 overall. Weru, a Kenyan rugby convert, signed after the draft, and flashed more as a pass rusher in the preseason.

Neither was close to ready for a contending defensive front, however. The Eagles kept four quarterbacks and extra depth at receiver, tight end and corner instead of burning two 53-man spots on long-term projects.

The risk was real although a claim would have put either player on another team’s active roster, and that was worth betting on for the organization. 

Roseman said the staff tried to evaluate the pair the way rival clubs would — on limited tape, without the meeting-room and practice context Philadelphia had all summer.

As expected, Bernard is very raw and needs to learn to keep his pads lower while Weru’s wins in the preseason came when he wasn’t blocked and was able to show off his athleticism.

The comp of Bernard to Jordan Mailata, who was selected at No. 233 overall in 2018 before taking two-plus years to develop into one of the best left tackle in the world was used an an opportunity to point out just how special the league’s most famous IPP success story is.

“I think that Jordan, with all due respect to Joshua and Uar — I don’t know, whoever’s the youngest person in this room probably could be doing this for 30, 40 years, and nobody’s going to see a Jordan Mailata ever again,” Roseman said. “I mean the person, the player that that guy is, that story, it’s an unbelievable story. 

“[Mailata] had just a unique combination of size, strength, athleticism and pro experience as an athlete. I think sometimes we forget Uar has never played organized sports before. It’s a different bar. I think if we’re just judging everyone through the lens of Jordan Mailata, it’s going to be hard to give these guys a fair chance.”

Mailata arrived as an Australian rugby player in 2018 and became a Pro Bowl left tackle. Bernard’s path is even rawer: basketball and soccer in Nigeria, then NFL camps, then a seventh-round dart. Weru played for Kenya’s national rugby side before the pathway program. 

Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio had called them the team’s “exchange students,” a reminder that both need a lot of time to harness their raw talents

Only one IPP exemption can sit on the 17-man practice squad, and Bernard is expected to hold that extra spot. Weru will then be a standard practice-squad signing and can still be signed away to another club’s 53. 

Roseman accepted that trade-off rather than keep both on the active roster and released players he thought could help immediately.

“Still very excited about them, really glad that they did get through [waivers],” Roseman said. “Certainly wasn’t certain about that, but I’m glad they’re back here.

“... But from our perspective, development is real. These guys have tremendous ability to be developed. They want to be developed. They have tools in their body, they’ve got great character, but it’s new to them.”