Article 709YD Exploring Eagles' internal options after placing Nolan Smith on IR

Exploring Eagles' internal options after placing Nolan Smith on IR

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Exploring Eagles' internal options after placing Nolan Smith on IR originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Eagles on Wednesday placed Nolan Smith on Injured Reserve, which means he'll be out at least the next four weeks.

Smith, 24, tweaked his surgically repaired left triceps. The hope is that Smith will return somewhere around the Eagles' Week 9 bye. If Smith can't return until after the bye week against the Packers, that means he would miss five games.

Here's a look at how the snap counts have broken down so far for the Eagles' edge rushers through three games:

Nolan Smith: 142 snaps (76%)

Jalyx Hunt: 116 snaps (62%)

Josh Uche: 54 snaps (29%)

Za'Darius Smith: 44 snaps (24%)

Patrick Johnson: 18 snaps (10%)

Let's take a look at the Eagles' best internal options to replace Smith for at least the next month:

Jalyx Hunt

In his second season, the third-round pick from Houston Christian is already a starter and is second on the team in edge rusher snaps. Could he see a bump up from 62% to 76%? It's possible. Either way, it seems likely that Hunt will see his usage increase at least a little bit.

While Hunt has not yet gotten a sack this season, he does lead the Eagles with nine pressures and has a pressure rate of 17.3%, per NextGen Stats, which is also the highest among the Eagles' defensive linemen. That pressure percentage is up from 7.4% as a rookie. Hunt also has the best average get-off (.90) among his DL teammates through three games.

Za'Darius Smith

The Eagles brought in the 33-year-old Smith to be the third guy behind Smith and Hunt but his role is obviously going to increase now that Smith is out. In his first game with the Eagles, Smith played 20 of 60 snaps and in his second game, he played 24 of 66. So he's at 34.9% over the two games he's been with the team. He has a half sack and a couple pressures in those two games.

While he's in his 11th NFL season and is well into his 30s, Smith has been pretty durable throughout his career. He played in 17 games last season spilt between the Browns and Lions and has played at least 16 games all but one year in his last seven seasons.

Here's a breakdown of Smith's usage over his last three seasons:

2024: 618 snaps (58-60%)

2023: 584 snaps (59%)

2022: 771 snaps (70%)

The need for an edge rusher was apparent coming out of training camp. And the Eagles actually almost signed Smith before Week 1 before eventually signing him the day after the win over the Cowboys. Of all the players of this group, Smith is the one who will probably see the biggest bump in playing time.

Josh Uche

The Eagles signed Uche and Ojulari as veterans this March but Uche was the guy who separated himself from that crowd during training camp. In the first three games, Uche has played 19, 16 and 19 snaps. He was third among the edge rushers in Week 1 and has been fourth in the last two games.

While Uche has yet to record a sack, he does have three pressures and his average get-off time of 0.92 seconds is second among the group behind just Smith.

Uche, 27, has never really been a starter in his NFL career. He has played in 67 career games with just 4 starts. Even in his 11 1/2-sack season in 2022, he didn't start a single game and he has never played more than 374 snaps in a season. He was already on pace for 306 this year before this injury to Smith. So he might not be a great candidate for a massive role.

Patrick Johnson

While Johnson, 27, began the season on the Eagles' practice squad he was elevated in Week 1 and then signed to the 53-man roster ahead of Week 2. He played all of his 18 snaps in the first two weeks and was inactive against the Rams despite his special teams prowess.

The Eagles had just four edge rushers active against the Rams but Vic Fangio said that's not unusual.

To me, that's one that's always going to be fluid, either having four or five," Fangio said. If we go down to three, then you have got a valid question. Although we played an entire season once when I was in San Francisco with just three active."

While Johnson has been a great special teamer throughout his career, he has played a total of 102 defensive snaps since the start of the 2023 season.

Azeez Ojulari

While he has been inactive the first three games of the season, Ojulari was the recipient of the most significant free agent contract back in March. But he didn't do anything to distinguish himself in OTAs or training camp and has not played yet this season.

It's possible that Ojulari is more of a gamer than he is a good practice player. Because he has a track record of success in the NFL. While he struggled to stay healthy with the Giants, he was always productive. The former second-round pick played 46 games (30 starts) with the Giants from 2021-24 and had 22 sacks. He played just 11 games in 2024 but still managed to have six sacks and 10 QB hits. Perhaps he'll finally get a chance with Smith's injury.

Ogbo Okoronkwo

Another veteran, Okoronkwo is 30 but he flashed enough during training camp to make the roster and stick around, although he has yet to play this season.

In his career, Okoronkwo has played in 80 games with 13 starts and has 17 career sacks. His best season came with the Texans in 2022, when he had 44 tackles, 5 sacks and 11 QB hits. That season he also played a career-high 518 snaps. In fact, the last three years - one with the Texans, two with the Browns - Okoronwko has played 518 snaps, 445 snaps and 465 snaps. If the Eagles need him to shoulder some of the load, he has shown that he's capable.

Jihaad Campbell

The first-round pick from Alabama is off to a really good start as an inside linebacker but has shown an ability to get on the line as an outside linebacker too. So far, that has been within the structure of the defense as an inside backer, but there's a world where the Eagles might need Campbell to get more snaps as a pure edge rusher. And, keep in mind, Nakobe Dean will be eligible to return from the PUP list as early as Week 5.

Here's how Campbell's snaps have broken down so far this season, per PFF:

Box: 124

D-line: 38

Slot: 13

So it's not like Campbell has been lined up a ton on the line just yet. And we know he's far from a finished product as an overhang player. But if the Eagles need him to start getting some snaps there, he should be capable.

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