Eagles sign D-linemen Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and Jacob Sykes, waive two others
The Eagles added to their depth at defensive line, an area where they took losses in free agency.
The Eagles are shoring up their depth on the defensive line ahead of their first training camp practice and signing defensive end Ogbonnia Okoronkwo and defensive tackle Jacob Sykes, the team announced Tuesday.
Okoronkwo, 30, most recently spent the last two seasons of his six-year NFL career with the Cleveland Browns. He appeared in 30 games in that span (five starts) and played nearly half the defensive snaps.
He amassed 7½ sacks with the Browns, which ranks third on the team in the last two seasons combined behind Myles Garrett (28) and Za’Darius Smith (10½). Okoronkwo also contributed on special teams and played 24% of the special-teams snaps in 2024.
The Eagles will be Okoronkwo’s fourth NFL team. The 6-foot-2, 250-pound edge rusher began his career with the Los Angeles Rams, who drafted him in the fifth round of the 2018 draft out of Oklahoma. While his four-year stint with the Rams was marked by injury, he was a member of the Super Bowl-winning squad in 2021.
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Okoronkwo also played for the Houston Texans in 2022. In 2023, the Gainesville, Fla., native signed a three-year deal with the Browns. He only played two seasons before his release in June.
Sykes, 25, worked out for the Eagles on Monday before signing with the team the following day. He spent the last two seasons with the UFL’s San Antonio Brahmas. The 6-2, 282-pound Sykes played in seven regular-season UFL games in 2024 and finished with 11 tackles (including two for loss) and one sack.
Before his UFL stint, Sykes signed with the Seattle Seahawks in 2023 as an undrafted free agent out of UCLA, which he attended after graduating from Harvard. He did not make the team out of training camp.
Okoronkwo and Sykes are joining position groups that have undergone plenty of change at the top this offseason. The new league year ushered in the departures of defensive tackle Milton Williams (New England Patriots) and edge rusher Josh Sweat (Arizona Cardinals) in free agency. Brandon Graham, the veteran defensive end, retired after 15 seasons with the team.
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To make room for Okoronkwo and Sykes, the Eagles released defensive end KJ Henry and running back Lew Nichols.
The Eagles reported to training camp at the NovaCare Complex on Tuesday and will participate in their first practice on Wednesday.