Eagles to sign ex-Giants and Georgia edge rusher Azeez Ojulari to a one-year deal

Another Georgia Bulldog is joining the Eagles defense.

The team announced Monday that it agreed to terms with Azeez Ojulari, an edge rusher who has accumulated 22 sacks over his first four seasons with the New York Giants. ESPN reported that the deal is for one year and $4 million.

Ojulari, 24, was a second-round pick by the Giants in 2021. He played all 17 games that season and tallied eight sacks, but he hasn’t played a full season since. His 22 sacks are impressive given he achieved them in just 46 games while dealing with lower-body injuries.

Ojulari fits the profile of other players the Eagles have taken a liking to with physical traits and draft pedigree. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound pass rusher has long arms (95th percentile at the NFL scouting combine) and has shown flashes of dominance but hasn’t been able to stay on the field.

Ojulari, who overlapped at Georgia with a few Eagles, was one of the better edge rushers on the free-agent market, and though it’s a relatively weak free-agent class, he is a player with a pretty high ceiling given his traits and his production when he’s been on the field.

Can the Eagles tap into that talent? They will need to. Edge rusher was an obvious position of need entering free agency with the expected loss of Josh Sweat, who signed with Arizona for four years and more than $76 million. The Eagles previously signed Joshua Uche, who played his first 4½ seasons with New England before finishing last season with Kansas City. But Ojulari’s skills make his addition impactful, even though he has played only 29 of 51 games since his rookie season.

The edge rusher room looks a bit better now than it did last week. The Eagles still have Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt as key returners, and they hope Bryce Huff, last offseason’s major acquisition, can improve — though Fox Sports recently reported that the Eagles were open to trade talks for Huff, whose contract could prove difficult to move.

Smith broke out in 2024, his second NFL season, with 6½ sacks, and Hunt flashed later in the season and in the playoffs. But Sweat played 63% of the defensive snaps and took eight sacks with him to Arizona. It will be no small hole to fill. With Ojulari, the Eagles have a high-upside player on a pretty cheap contract to add to a committee that will try.

After spending his first four NFL seasons with the Cleveland Browns and his fifth with the Las Vegas Raiders, Harrison Bryant’s reasoning for signing with the Eagles was pretty simple. He wanted to come to a winning organization, he said.

“What’s better than signing with the defending Super Bowl champs?” he said Monday.

Bryant, a tight end the Eagles signed last week to a one-year deal, was a depth signing for the Eagles, who have also added Kylen Granson to the tight end room this free-agency period. The former John Mackey Award winner as college football’s top tight end hasn’t found himself atop any depth charts in five seasons after being a fourth-round pick out of Florida Atlantic.

There is some intrigue and uncertainty at the position for the Eagles given Dallas Goedert’s contract situation. Regardless of how that sorts out, Bryant will be in the mix for a role. He has shown some versatility, lining up in multiple spots, including in the backfield.

While he wasn’t relied on as a blocker in college, Bryant, who turns 27 next month, said he’s always considered himself a good blocker. The Eagles, of course, have a strong running game and may tap on Bryant to block more often than to catch passes.

“Obviously it’s very dominant,” Bryant said when asked about the Eagles’ running game. “It takes everyone, all 11. I’m excited to come in and do whatever I can to help improve that or whatever my role is in that.”

How does one get into long snapping? For Charley Hughlett, it was an open tryout at Central Florida.

Hughlett, the Eagles’ new long snapper, was at UCF as a tight end. But just before his freshman season started, the regular long snapper decided to quit. Hughlett had some snapping history from his time at Hillsborough High in Tampa, Fla., so when the team conducted an open tryout, Hughlett had an advantage.

The job was his. Seventeen years later ... “Here I am. It worked out,” Hughlett said.

Hughlett signed with the Eagles last week, a one-year deal that signaled the end of the nine-year Rick Lovato era with the Eagles.

Hughlett, 34, spent the last 10 years with Cleveland and was cut last month. His 2024 season was cut short due to an injury that he said happened on a friendly-fire hit to the ribs by a teammate.

Lovato’s long tenure with the Eagles meant there was a lot of chemistry between him and the players he snaps for: kicker Jake Elliott and punter Braden Mann.

Hughlett said he met Elliott, special teams coach Michael Clay, and a few others during joint practices in the past but was looking forward to getting together with his new teammates.

“They seem like awesome guys and I know they’re very good at doing their jobs and I’m excited to work with them,” Hughlett said. “Just come in and really get to work and start building that chemistry pretty quickly. Try to hang out off the field and get to know these guys as people.”