Philadelphia Eagles: Who in the world is Joe Ostman?

While he may be the current dark horse favorite to win a roster spot, who on earth is Philadelphia Eagles second-year defensive end Joe Ostman?

If you’ve been keeping up with the Philadelphia Eagles training camp so far this summer, and if you’re reading this blog I’m sure you have, one name who’s consistently popped up is Joe Ostman.

But, as you may ask yourself, who in the world is Joe Ostman?

That’s a good question, and one much harder than a typical Wikipedia search.

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Why? Well, Ostman doesn’t actually have a page. Ostman also isn’t very much information on his Pro Football Reference page, or really that much written about him as a football player online.

If you check Google’s news tab, you’ll nary find much more than occasional blips about him prior to the start of 2019 Training Camp.

In an age of virtually non-existent walls separating fans from athletes, it’s almost strange how little we know about Joe Ostman.

By the way, he plays defensive end, since you probably didn’t already know.

So, who is Joe Ostman?

A two-star recruit coming out of high school, Ostman only received one offer coming out of high school and played four seasons at Central Michigan. From there, he played five seasons with the Chippewas, including a redshirt junior season back in 2015. Though he never quite established himself as a legitimate college star, Ostman picked up 21 sacks over his final two seasons in college and was named the 2017 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl Humanitarian Award winner.

But unfortunately, those accolades didn’t translate to draft buzz.

Dubbed a tweener with ‘penguin arms‘ according to an AFC Scout, Ostman received a late-round grade (5-6 round) from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein due to his impressive collection of moves and willingness to never take a play off, but that, unfortunately, wasn’t enough to get his name called on draft night.

From there, Ostman signed with the Eagles as a UDFA and had a fairly quiet 2018 training camp – being waived in the final trim down to 53.

Though he did eventually land on the Eagles’ practice squad, Ostman quickly became an afterthought in the minds of fans in the 215.

But with whatever micro-percentage of the fanbase’s watchful eyes turned elsewhere, Ostman continued to grind and get better with each passing day.

Often tasked with emulating the opposing team’s best pass rusher in practice, Ostman showcased a relentless motor and impressive moves through his first season with the team and quickly became a player to watch when the 2019 season opened up.

Needless to say, he ran with that opportunity.

Now a fixture of ‘players-to-watch‘ lists the world over for his hard work and a pension for making impressive plays around the bend, it looks like Ostman may not only make the final 53 man roster but could even leapfrog players like Josh Sweat and Shareef Miller for playing time as the Birds’ fourth defensive end.

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And if that happens, let’s hope someone finally makes Joe Ostman a Wikipedia page as Philadelphia Eagles fans would probably love to get to know him better.

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