Now that the 2026 NFL Draft is finished, it’s time for some movie rooms on the Philadelphia Eagles’ rookie class. They’re all completed now! However I forgot that I hadn’t written about Jonathan Greenard because the Eagles traded for him through the draft. I knew he was a superb participant, however I at all times be taught extra by truly watching them. So, I went again and watched all of his move rushes from final 12 months, in addition to some run protection and protection snaps. Here’s what I discovered!
You could possibly argue that the Greenard addition is essentially the most important addition of the complete offseason. Buying and selling the 98th total choose and a 2027 third-round choice to the Vikings for Jonathan Greenard, and instantly signing him to a four-year, $100 million extension. It’s a important dedication.
The Eagles entered this offseason with a pass-rush group that had promise with Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt atop the depth chart, however they lacked an impressive move rusher. I don’t assume that they had a longtime, confirmed edge rusher who might win one-on-one with out schematic assist. After dropping Jaelan Phillips in free company, that absence was obtrusive. Greenard fixes it instantly.
I’ll get into why beneath, however I feel Greenard is an apparent tier beneath the elite freakish abilities. Elite move rushers are sometimes superhuman athletes. Greenard is just not one in all them. He isn’t Micah Parsons. He isn’t Maxx Crosby. However he is a wonderful move rusher who wins with out assist, creates issues for quarterbacks each recreation, and does it on all three downs. If he can rediscover the ending capability that produced 12.0 sacks in 2024, he pushes again into the dialog as one of many higher edge rushers within the league exterior that elite handful. And even when the ending by no means absolutely returns, what he gives in pure strain era is already value lots.
Greenard is just not a pace rusher who disappears on early downs. He isn’t an influence rusher who will get crushed by faster tackles. He’s a technically refined, various move rusher with an precise bag of strikes and the soccer intelligence to deploy them situationally. He corners the pocket with elite hip flexibility, dropping his weight beneath bigger blockers to achieve leverage moderately than going round them on the identical peak. The result’s a rusher who can win in a number of methods on the identical collection, which prevents offensive tackles from sitting on a single counter.
He additionally has a purposeful bull rush and long-arm collapse transfer that provides him a reliable energy choice when speed-based strikes are taken away. It’s not his main weapon; this isn’t a participant who overwhelms tackles with brute drive, nevertheless it exists as a reputable counter that forces blockers to respect a couple of dimension on any given rep. His arm size makes it very tough for tackles to get into his chest.
A spin transfer is one other unbelievable counter that he makes use of when tackles overset in opposition to him.
Velocity-to-power conversion is a instrument within the equipment moderately than the muse of the sport, which is a vital distinction. When the spin or the rip is countered, the bull rush is there. When the bull rush is anticipated, the spin is there. That layering is what makes him tough to arrange for.
A majority of Greenard’s pressures in 2025 arrived below 2.5 seconds, which was evident on movie. When he wins, he wins early, which is so necessary as a move rusher. The issue was ending. His pressure-to-sack conversion charge in 2025 was the bottom of his profession. He was creating the alternatives. He was merely not changing them on the charge he had beforehand, partly as a result of the shoulder damage affected his capability to complete via the sort out, and partly as a result of sack totals fluctuate 12 months to 12 months. A wholesome Greenard who converts at even a modest enchancment of his 2025 charge begins producing sack numbers that look a lot nearer to his 2024 output. And even when the conversion charge stays low, a rusher who reaches the quarterback in below 2.5 seconds at a excessive charge within the NFL is affecting the sport on each passing down. It’s arduous to observe his movie and assume that he appears to be like a step slower or not superb anymore. Have a look at him flip the nook!
Regardless of enjoying simply 12 video games in 2025, Greenard generated 47 whole pressures at an 18.1% strain charge. That’s glorious manufacturing, no matter his sack totals, and it clearly reveals that the power to have an effect on the quarterback by no means left. Stress charge is a much more secure indicator of pass-rush high quality than sack totals, and Greenard’s 2025 strain charge is nearly as good because it has ever been.
I notably loved that when a working again stepped as much as chip him, Greenard instantly learn it, understood the skin path was closed, and redirected inside or beneath with out breaking stride. That could be a processing ability that stops chip blocks from neutralizing him the best way they do youthful, less-experienced rushers.
That is what separates Greenard from a chosen move rusher and makes the contract considerably extra defensible. He reads offensive line actions immediately, diagnoses pullers and down-blocks on the snap, and makes use of his athleticism to bypass pulling guards moderately than merely setting the sting and ready. In opposition to a crew that commits to the run, Greenard doesn’t turn out to be a legal responsibility who will get taken off the sector. He’s an issue on each down. If you happen to can tackle Darnell Washington, you may tackle almost anybody.
With Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, and Moro Ojomo occupying blockers on the within, Greenard ought to often be working in opposition to single blocks on the skin. That’s the excellent surroundings for precisely any such participant. He has the dimensions to beat up on smaller tight ends who can’t block.
Motor, Persona, and Locker Room Influence
Greenard is a former crew captain with a vocal, fiery character that Philadelphia goes to like. His motor is relentless, and he finishes via holds, chases performs down the road, and competes via the whistle on each snap. Fangio’s protection at all times performs arduous, and including a participant whose aggressive character is that this seen and infectious issues past the on-field manufacturing.
Additionally, I didn’t watch this a lot for this piece, as I centered on move dashing and run protection, however the protection numbers recommend he can drop into protection successfully if wanted, too.
The plain large query mark is final 12 months’s sack whole. Greenard had a 5.3% pressure-to-sack conversion charge, which is the bottom of his profession. A few of that’s the shoulder damage affecting his capability to complete via contact. A few of it’s pure variance. A few of it might replicate a delicate decline within the bodily ending energy that produced 12.0 sacks in 2024. It’s powerful to know precisely why. Is it boring to only say that sack numbers are very random a number of the time?
The optimistic learn is {that a} wholesome offseason and a full 2026 marketing campaign can carry the conversion charge again towards his profession norms. The strain creation is there. If the ending returns even partially, the sack numbers comply with. If it doesn’t, the Eagles nonetheless have a top-ten strain generator whose impact on the passing recreation extends effectively past his private statistics.
Greenard turns 29 this 12 months. By the point this four-year deal concludes, he might be 32. The Eagles are betting that 2026 and 2027 are distinctive sufficient to justify the potential points that we might even see down the road. That could be a cheap guess on a win-now roster. It’s nonetheless a guess.
The 2025 shoulder surgical procedure is the newest pink flag in a sample of missed time throughout a number of seasons. For a participant whose worth is constructed on relentless bodily play, sturdiness is related as to whether this contract delivers. Protecting him wholesome via 17 video games might be a precedence from day one in all coaching camp.
Total Evaluation and Match With the Eagles
Jonathan Greenard is an excellent NFL move rusher, one stage beneath the elite handful. He isn’t the kind of participant whose athleticism overwhelms you. He’s the kind of participant whose method, strain charge, and quick-twitch get-off make him a persistent downside on each passing down, no matter what the stat sheet says on the finish of the sport. He’s on the age the place he understands find out how to get to the quarterback. He can change his pass-rush plan weekly, relying on his opponent and the quarterback he’s going through. I used to be a giant fan after watching all of his move rushes from final 12 months. He constantly affected the quarterback. The extra I watched him, the extra I appreciated how he will get strain and the way various he’s as a move rusher.
The contract is a win-now transfer, and I’m totally snug with that. The Eagles are competing for a Tremendous Bowl with a franchise quarterback in his prime. They wanted a confirmed participant at edge after dropping Jaelen Phillips, and so they bought one. It is a superb soccer crew that simply bought meaningfully higher at one in all its most urgent positions of want, with a participant who suits the scheme and tradition and instantly makes each different rusher round him extra harmful.
Thanks for studying! I’d love to listen to your ideas, so be at liberty to remark beneath and ask any questions. If you need to assist me additional, please try my Patreon right here – I simply posted a 10-minute video on Jonathan Greenard and included some extra clips.
