Newest Eagles edge rusher Jonathan Greenard discusses his respect for Philly, Super Bowl goals
Greenard was introduced to the media on Saturday, discussing his new deal and the 2025 injury from which he's working his way back.
In his seven-year NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings and the Houston Texans, Jonathan Greenard has never played a game at Lincoln Financial Field.
Still, the newest Eagles edge rusher is well-acquainted with the passion possessed by Philly sports fans.
On Friday, just hours after the Eagles acquired him from the Vikings on the second day of the draft, Greenard headed across the street to Xfinity Mobile Arena for the Sixers’ Game 3 playoff meeting with the Boston Celtics. The Sixers lost, but the excitement in the building was palpable, Greenard said at his introductory news conference the next morning.
“I was just at the Hawks game back home in Georgia, just looking at that and comparing the two, I was just like, man, this environment was way, way better,” Greenard said. “No disrespect to them. But ultimately, man, it’s different up here, and they take pride [in] it.
“It’s a blue-collar city. When you work your tail off, everything is going to be rewarded back to you. They’re just passionate. And I love that. Ultimately, they want one thing. We want the same thing.”
Greenard said he wants his first Super Bowl victory, something the city has already experienced twice and is hellbent on experiencing again. But last season, the Eagles followed up their 2024 Super Bowl campaign with a wild-card playoff exit. The edge rusher corps, led by Jaelan Phillips, Nolan Smith, and Jalyx Hunt, did not register a sack in their loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
In the wake of Phillips’ free-agent departure for the Carolina Panthers, Howie Roseman sought to add more pass-rushing prowess to the group by acquiring Greenard and signing him to a four-year extension reportedly worth $100 million. While the Eagles’ interest in Greenard had been rumored this offseason, the veteran edge rusher said trade talks picked up in the last couple days.
The impetus behind those discussions, as ESPN reported in March, was the Vikings’ inability to ink Greenard to a long-term deal due to salary cap constraints.
“It was a lot up in the air, but ultimately, I knew that it was going to be an end goal, and I knew we were going to eventually get to the bottom of it,” Greenard said. “I’m just glad now that we’re at the end of it, now I can just worry about football.”
Football has been on the back burner for the last several months as Greenard recovered from season-ending left shoulder surgery in December. The injury limited him to just 12 games in 2025. Greenard said he is still rehabbing, but he is making progress.
“They don’t want me to say it, but if we had to play, I could play,” Greenard said. “But ultimately, man, I feel good. I’m in a good spot, and coming here with the best trainers as well, and the best docs here, stuff like that, I know I’m in good hands.”
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As he gets back on the football field in 2026, Greenard will look to return to the Pro Bowl form he achieved in 2024, his first season with the Vikings. That year, he registered 12 sacks, four forced fumbles, three pass breakups, and 18 tackles for a loss.
Last season was a different story. In those 12 games with the Vikings, Greenard notched just three sacks. Still, he finished the season with a 15.4% pressure rate, according to Next Gen Stats, an improvement over 2024 (13.4%) and a clip just shy of his career high in 2023 with the Texans (16%), when he compiled 12½ sacks.
Greenard attributed his pressure-to-sack inefficiency to a need to lower the center of his target.
“Mostly I’m trying to go for the ball and go for the kill shot or something like that,” Greenard said. “And eyes get big at times. I think a lot of stuff goes into that. But I still feel like I rush well. I feel like I was still getting back there. I feel like my moves didn’t drop off at all.
“I always tell myself, listen, the day somebody got to tell me to get to the quarterback, that’s when I’m going to need to hang it up. But outside of that, if my issue is wrapping a guy up, I promise you, I’m going to be in a good spot.”
Greenard isn’t hanging it up just yet. Even though he will be the veteran in the room this season at the age of 29 (his birthday is in May), Greenard said he is still learning and polishing his technique. He said he is eager to assimilate into Vic Fangio’s defense and work alongside his new teammates on the defensive line, both on the edge and the interior.
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As the newest Eagles edge rusher, Greenard expressed an understanding that he isn’t just representing the current group. He emphasized his admiration for the players of the past, including Brandon Graham, Chris Long, Derek Barnett, and Josh Sweat, who have set the standard for the newcomers.
“I respect the hell out of the guys that have come before me, and all I can do is continue to just carry that light and make sure the things they’ve done in the past don’t go in vain,” Greenard said. “So I love everything about it. I love the historic franchise. I’m wanting to be a part of that.
“I want to be a part of having some hardware on my finger.”
