The Eagles waived international prospects Uar Bernard and Joshua Weru. Here’s how they could return to the team.
The Eagles' two "exchange students," as described by defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, might still have a home on the practice squad.
Vic Fangio wasn’t wrong when he warned time after time that Uar Bernard and Joshua Weru — the two first-time football players who joined the Eagles this offseason — have “a long way to go” and are “light-years away.”
The Eagles used a seventh-round pick on Bernard, a defensive tackle from Nigeria with off-the-charts athleticism. They signed Weru, a Kenyan rugby convert, as an undrafted free agent. Neither had played a padded football game before the Eagles and Ravens met in the first preseason game earlier this month, and getting on the field in a real NFL contest is a whole different beast.
But the Eagles’ decision to waive both players ahead of the 6 p.m. roster deadline Sunday means another NFL team could decide to claim them off waivers and put them on their 53-man roster.
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That result is unlikely. Again, as Fangio says, his “exchange students” are a long way away from being ready to play in NFL games, and a claiming team would be taking on a big project, and using a roster spot to do so.
But assuming both of them clear waivers and land on the team’s practice squad come Monday, the Eagles will only be able to make one of them the designated IPP player — the program allows teams to keep one extra player on the practice squad, 17 instead of 16 — and the other would be free to sign to another team’s active roster at any point during the season.
That’s obviously a risk Howie Roseman was willing to take.
While Bernard was the more talked-about prospect after the Eagles used a draft pick on him, it was Weru, an edge rusher, who flashed more during camp and in the preseason contests. If one of the two was going to get cut, Bernard seemed the more likely candidate given the possibility the Eagles could use Weru on special teams.
Weru made a few impact plays during the preseason, including a sack in the New England game that had his teammates celebrating on the sideline. After the game Friday night vs. Cincinnati, Weru spoke proudly about the progress he had made since OTAs but said he didn’t have any expectations about what his roster fate would be throughout the process.
“I tried not to think too far ahead because I knew there were so many unpredictable things,” he said.
Making the team, he said, would “mean a lot.”
“I guess it would validate all of the work,” he said, “ but I think just even being able to stay in this building and them showing how much they’re willing to invest in me already has shown the work that I’ve put in is actually paying off.”
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Bernard, meanwhile, said his biggest change from the beginning of training camp to Friday night was his confidence. The Eagles had him break down the huddle prior to the game, too.
“Two, three months ago I was not this confident,” he said.
“It was amazing to learn the game and at the same time play.”
His next chance to play likely will be with the practice squad. Bernard and Weru, like the rest of the players waived Sunday, will first have to clear waivers.
The Eagles kept five edge rushers on the roster: Jonathan Greenard, Jalyx Hunt, Nolan Smith, Arnold Ebiketie, and A.J. Epenesa. In leaving Bernard off the roster, the Eagles also kept just five interior linemen: Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Moro Ojomo, Byron Young, and Ty Robinson.
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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