The Eagles Have Their Own Freak in Josh Sweat
In the NFL, sometimes it's good a good thing to fly under the radar.
That sentiment might best describe Josh Sweat's summer.
The Eagles' Pro Bowl edge rusher is a constant on Jonathan Gannon's defense these days, at least when it became clear that the scary situation involving a cauterized blood vessel that forced the Florida State product to miss January's playoff loss to Tampa Bay was revealed to be bad luck and nothing more,
There's been plenty of talk about Philadelphia's re-made defensive unit with additions like Jordan Davis, James Bradberry, Kyzir White, and Nakobe Dean firing up the fan base but little about Sweat, who serves essentially as a checkmark.
Lane Johnson, though, may have changed that on Thursday in Berea, Ohio, after the first of two joint practice sessions with Cleveland when the All-Pro right tackle compared Browns' pass-rushing star Jadeveon Clowney, once the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, to Sweat, the Eagles' co-leader in sacks last season with 7.5
“Going against [Clowney], I feel like he’s very similar to Sweat,” said Johnson. “Good get-off, long, strong. It was a good matchup today.”
Sweat then went out on Friday and put up two more sacks.
If anyone is primed for a double-digit sack season it hs the 2018 fourth-round pick from Florida State.
Length is the first thing you see with Sweat, a 6-foot-5, 265-pound player straight out of a Hollywood casting call for an NFL edge rusher.
Clowney himself was listed at 6-5 and 265 in his pre-draft measurables coming out of South Carolina with a 4.54 40-yard dash, a 1.56 10-yard split, and a 7.27 three-cone drill.
To compare, Sweat ran a 4.53 40 on his way out of FSU for the 2018 draft with a 1.55 10-yard split and a 6.95 three-cone. That 40 time and his 39 1/2-inch vertical leap ranked first among all defensive linemen at the combine that year.
Yet, No. 1 overall for Clowney turned to No. 130 for Sweat, even though the latter was a little freakier from an athleticism standpoint than "The Freak" himself.
The short explanation is the catastrophic knee dislocation that turned Sweat from the No. 1 high-school prospect in the country coming out of Chesapeake, Virginia to the medical red flag on his way out of Tallahassee.
Over Sweat's first three NFL seasons, however, he proved reliable enough to earn a three-year, $40 million extension from the Eagles last September before breaking out and earning his first Pro Bowl berth.
Now Sweat is being compared to three-time Pro Bowl selections by an All-Pro OT.
“Just their type of body style. Long, lean, quick twitch, good burst," Johnson assessed. "... I remember like two or three years ago, I think I was telling y’all, I think this guy’s going to be a good player if he keeps up his consistency.
"[Sweat] just has that quick twitch and that burst. A lot of the good pass rushers have power and can set up things off that and he does that. I’m pushing for him to have a big year.”
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
