March 17, 2025
According to a report from ESPN, the Eagles are signing former Giants edge rusher Azeez Ojulari.
Ojulari was a Giants second round pick during the Dave Gettleman era. As we have seen in recent years, Joe Schoen has made weak efforts to retain Gettleman picks, like Saquon Barkley, Xavier McKinney, and Julian Love, who have gone on to be much better players with their new teams than they were when they played for the Giants.
Ojulari had a frustrating four years with the Giants. He had a promising rookie season when he had 8 sacks, followed by a 2022 season in which he only played in 7 games, but had 5.5 sacks. He had a disappointing 2023 season, when he only played in 11 games and had just 2.5 sacks, perhaps spurring Schoen to trade for Brian Burns.
In 2024, Ojulari was behind Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux on the depth chart, but had 5 sacks in a 3-game span while Thibodeaux was out of the lineup with an injury. Here are some highlights in one of those three games, against the Steelers (video via @nickfalato):
He seemed to have carved out a more regular role in the rotation because of his play, but he injured his toe and missed the final six games of the season.
In short, Ojulari has been productive when healthy, but he has been unable to stay on the field. He checks a lot of boxes on the types of high upside lottery tickets that Howie Roseman hunts for:
For example, guys like Mekhi Becton, Kenny Pickett, DeVante Parker, Parris Campbell, and Devin White fit that profile. Some hit, most don't. That strategy looks great when you hit on guys like Becton, and when they don't, like with White or Parker, who cares?
Ojulari could be a fit in the Eagles' edge rotation along with Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Josh Uche, and (maybe) Bryce Huff.
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