Jonathan Greenard’s availability is unknown, but his position coach says Eagles pass rusher has ‘been an A-plus’
Eagles assistants Jeremiah Washburn and Clint Hurtt also discussed Uar Bernard's progress as he adjusts to the game.
At Sunday’s roster cutdown deadline, Howie Roseman decided that Jonathan Greenard would not start the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list after dealing with a pectoral strain throughout training camp.
The Eagles general manager said that Greenard would be “playing sooner rather than later,” but he added that he would keep the veteran pass rusher’s exact timeline “close to the vest.”
While Greenard’s availability for Week 1 against the Washington Commanders might be a mystery to the public, his potential impact among the Eagles edge rusher corps once he returns to action isn’t in doubt, at least to his position coach, Jeremiah Washburn.
“He’s what we thought he’d be,” Washburn said Wednesday. “And working really hard and staying engaged and been an A-plus in the meeting room and on the field.”
The Eagles acquired Greenard, 29, from the Minnesota Vikings this offseason and signed him to a four-year, $100 million deal, adding pass-rush prowess to a group that lacked sack production in 2025. Seven Eagles edge rushers combined for 18 sacks last season, and five of those players are no longer on the team.
Those departed players include Jaelan Phillips, whom the Eagles acquired at the trade deadline from the Miami Dolphins. While Phillips only registered two sacks in eight games with the Eagles, he played 78% of the defensive snaps in that span.
Whether or not Greenard might be expected to shoulder that workload has not been determined, according to Washburn.
“We have not even gotten there with that,” Washburn said. “It’s different. We’re starting the season, and guys carve out their roles and identities and play times and things of that nature. Whereas with J.P., we caught him at a time that was, what, Week 9? So it was a little different.”
Greenard only played 12 games in 2025, as he underwent season-ending shoulder surgery late in the year. He had three sacks last season but combined for 24½ in 2023 and 2024.
The Eagles are betting that Greenard can get back to his productive ways, all while looking for Nolan Smith Jr. and Jalyx Hunt to take the next step in their respective games.
Even though Greenard’s exact role isn’t clear just yet, Washburn emphasized that he will be leaning on the entire group to contribute to the rotation, with precise snap counts to be determined.
“We’ve been blessed with a lot of guys that can play, and guys just kind of carve out their roles as we go, and we figure that [out] week-to-week,” Washburn said. “But, man, I’ve been here since ’19, and we’ve just been blessed with depth and different guys that can play. So it’ll look a lot similar to what we’ve done in the past.”
A ‘long road’ ahead for Bernard
Even though training camp is over and the Eagles are on the cusp of Week 1, the development of Uar Bernard and Joshua Weru continues.
The Eagles have dedicated developmental periods at practice to promote the growth of their prospects, including both players from the International Player Pathway program. In fact, those prospects have more time to learn in those periods now than they did during camp.
“Other places I’ve been, we might not have had that much [developmental time], and we have an ample amount of time to work with them,” Washburn said. “I just got off a field with [Weru], he and Keyshawn [James-Newby], and so we’ve been really fortunate on that to have a lot of time to work with him. So we should see the fruits of the labor with that.”
Eagles defensive line coach Clint Hurtt said there’s a “long road” ahead for Bernard, but he emphasized that he loves “where it’s going.”
That road for Bernard includes the developmental periods and his early morning meetings with Hurtt.
“He’s getting more reps now in the developmental stuff to continue to advance his game, and also spending time continuing to teach him the game itself,” Hurtt said. “Formations, splits, the things that offenses are looking to do, situational football.
“Those are the things that he doesn’t get enough introduction to individually, even from the time that we drafted him.”
Now, Bernard can focus on those details that have been cut for time as he works toward his goal of suiting up for NFL action in the future.
“He’s on the back burner, but his development is in fast forward right now,” Hurtt said. “So it’ll take time, as we’ve said numerous times. But I like where it’s going.”
The Eagles’ first-stringers get little to no action in exhibition games, annual joint practices with other teams become one of the few opportunities for starters to get preseason reps of consequence. This year, the Eagles traveled to New England for two days of live workouts with the Patriots. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane and Boston Sports Journal’s Greg A. Bedard recap what they saw, and explain why, even after the joint practices, the Eagles still haven’t shown much of an identity. Listen here.
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