The Philadelphia Eagles lost their much-coveted unbeaten streak in the NFL on Sunday when they fell to the Denver Broncos.
Coming into the year, the Eagles were looking to rebuild their edge-rushing corps with young, ascending talents like Jalyx Hunt and Nolan Smith, both of whom came of massively during last postseason’s Super Bowl run, as Josh Sweat and Milton Williams both departed in free agency, and Brandon Graham retired after a behemoth 15-year career in the NFL – the entirety of which was spent in Philadelphia.
Now facing season-ending injuries to Smith, in addition to offseason addition, Ogbo Okoronkwo, the team are having to go with more of a committee-style approach to the position.
This past weekend, four outside linebackers played at least 1/3 of defensive snaps, Hunt, Azeez Ojulari, Josh Uche and Za’Darius Smith, with Patrick Johnson also chiming in on 11%.
Howie Roseman Encouraged To Find Another Edge Rusher
However, according to The Philly Special’s Anthony DiBona, writing on Monday, the team – i.e. general manager, Howie Roseman, should look to make additions to the unit before the trade deadline in a month’s time.
“Philadelphiaâs edge rusher rotation has shown signs of life, yet it hasnât been nearly consistent enough.” DiBona wrote. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman likely isnât happy with the lack of pressure that Philadelphiaâs pass rush has generated through the first five weeks of the regular season.
The Eagles have recorded just seven sacks in 2025, which is 25th in the NFL. ZaâDarius Smith is the only edge rusher that has registered a sack for the Eagles this season. Philadelphiaâs pass rush off the edge needs to improve and Roseman likely has to make a trade to fix the issue.”
The Eagles’ Pass Rush Has Not Lived Up To Expectations In 2025
Part of the disparity between the Broncos and Eagles in week 5 was in getting to the quarterback. The Eagles – sans Nolan – managed just 2 sacks, whilst the Broncos got to famously mobile Jalen Hurts 6 times, in what is admittedly one of the better defensive fronts in football.
If the Eagles are to compete, they will need to up their game up front despite having lost key players in free agency in March, and more recently to injury over the past few weeks.
Philadelphia are ranked joint 25th in the league in sacks per game, tied with teams like the New York Jets and the Tennessee Titans, who have a combined 1-9 record to start the season. And whilst their grading out by ESPN’s “pass rush win rate” metric is a little better than their sack totals, coming in at 41%, it still has them as only an average team in the league (17/32).
The options at this point in time are sparse to say the least. Trey Hendrickson feels like the only elite-level guy who could have any business being traded – given the Bengals‘ struggles since losing Joe Burrow to turf toe, and his tenuous one year deal with the organization.
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