After losing Nolan Smith Jr. to a triceps injury last week, the Philadelphia Eagles saw veteran defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo reportedly suffer a torn triceps injury in Sunday’s game (h/t @Jeff_McLane) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which could effectively end his season.
Okoronkwo was making his regular-season debut as the replacement for Smith, after being a healthy scratch for the first three games. Most Eagles fans thought that Azeez Ojulari would get the call-up with Smith banged up, but Philly opted for Okoronkwo instead.
Nevertheless, Okoronkwo only played four defensive snaps before getting hurt. With the Eagles’ defensive end depth hanging on by a thread, head coach Nick Sirianni might have no choice but to play Ojulari.
Eagles Have to Play Azeez Ojulari Following Another DE Injury
When the Eagles signed Ojulari in the offseason to a one-year, $3 million deal in free agency, it wasn’t a huge needle mover, as he wouldn’t be a direct replacement for Josh Sweat, who left to join the Arizona Cardinals.
However, some fans were intrigued by the addition based on what Ojulari did last year with the New York Giants. The former second-round pick had 10 quarterback hits, 10 quarterback hits, seven tackles for loss, and six sacks in 11 games.
The only question surrounding Ojulari is his health. If he’s healthy, the former Giant is worth taking a flier on (22 sacks through 46 games). That was likely the Eagles' thought process when signing him and thinking about what he could do in Vic Fangio’s system.
Fast forward to the end of September, and Ojulari hasn’t seen the field yet. The last time we saw Ojulari was in the preseason, where he showed a couple of flashes. At the time, it wasn’t clear he was going to make the 53-man roster, but given the Eagles’ depth at DE, he had a shot.
Through the first four games, the Eagles have passed on Ojulari for Patrick Johnson (who is mostly a special teams player, Okoronkwo), and they even signed Za’Darius Smith. Ojulari is not on the same level as Smith as a pass rusher, but it seems like he'll at least get a chance to state his case on the field before a final verdict is announced.
With Okoronkwo sidelined, Ojulari has a chance to prove the Eagles wrong for sitting him for the first four games. This Eagles’ pass rush is still struggling to generate pressure (five sacks), so maybe he can be the missing ingredient to take the unit to the next level.