You look at Josh Uche’s bio and one thing sticks out.
He had one sack as a rookie in 2020 and three the next year. He had three in 2023 and two last year.
So what sticks out?
How about 11½ sacks in 2022?
Uche has 20½ career sacks in five seasons, and more than half came in his third NFL season playing for Bill Belichick with the Patriots. Uche was seventh in the AFC in sacks that year and 12th in the NFL.
In every other season, he’s averaged one sack every 110 snaps. In 2022, he averaged a sack every 32 snaps.
What’s crazy about Uche’s 2022 season is that he played only 374 snaps. Since the NFL began tracking snaps in 2016, he’s the only player with double-digit sacks in fewer than 400 snaps.
So what happened in 2022? And can Uche replicate that this year with the Eagles?
“That year where I had 12 sacks or whatever it was, playing under Coach Belichick played a huge role in that,” he said. “My first year I was hampered by injuries, second year three sacks first two games, then ankle sprain or whatever. And then after (2022), we were hampered by … ”
At this point Uche cuts himself off.
“I can make all the excuses in the world, to be honest,” he said. “At the end of the day, you gotta play the cards you’re dealt. That year, the stars aligned and after that, life happened.”
The Eagles signed two veteran edge rushers this offseason as they moved to replace Josh Sweat, who signed with the Cards; Brandon Graham, who retired; and Bryce Huff, who they unloaded to the 49ers after a miserable 2024 season.
Uche and former Giant Azeez Ojulari have been battling in camp for the third edge spot behind Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt, and going into the preseason opener against the Bengals Thursday night at the Linc, Uche is in the lead. He’s shown an ability to rush the quarterback using both speed and power, and over the past week or so he’s really gapped Ojulari.
“Josh has had some good practices here of late,” Vic Fangio said. “He’s flashed and had some really good plays.
“Like a lot of the guys that are new, he just needs to eliminate the negative plays, and the negative plays aren’t something that you guys may see or know. It’s just reacting and covering and the way we want to play the run. The nuances of the defense. He has to master those, but overall he’s had a good camp and I see him getting better each and every day.”
Uche is 26 years old and was a 2nd-round pick in 2020 and the Eagles got him for next to nothing — one year, $1.9 million. Another Howie Roseman budget move that could pay off in a big way if Uche is anything close to the 2022 version.
He credits Belichick for getting the most out of him that year.
“I think just what he demanded from his players,” Uche said. “I think also I feel like the relationship I had with him. Talking to him about things and the way he would coach me. I feel like I kind of responded well to it. And just the system too, the way he ran things. I felt like I was receptive to [it].”
Smith and Hunt are both 24 years old, and Uche, still only 26 but going into his sixth season, has become the elder statesman in the edge rusher room. His career has been up and down, but he’s played for Belichick and Andy Reid, played under Belichick and Steve Spagnuolo and played alongside Matt Judon and George Karlaftis III.
Hunt, about to be a starter for the first time, is among those paying attention to everything Uche does.
“I’ve learned so much from him,” he said after practice Tuesday. “I watch a lot of his rushes. Like when you’re that unorthodox and you can still make plays and he’s able to get to the quarterback, that’s what my job is. My job entails rushing the quarterback. So whenever I can glean anything from anybody, like him in my room?
“Sometimes I just sit with him after practice and just ask, ‘Why do you do this?’ and, ‘Why do you approach it this way? Why do you approach it that way? What do you look for if they’re in this formation, if they’re in the shotgun underneath the center?’ So he’s been a great ear.
“Honestly, he’s so free spirited. When you look at a lot of rushers, a lot of rushers rush a certain line. You know, he might switch up his line. He might, I don’t know, throw in some curveballs. Just he rushes very true to himself and how he wants to rush and what’s comfortable for him and what works for him.”
Uche, who was traded from the Patriots to the Chiefs last October, was asked to compare Belichick and Fangio, two of the greatest defensive minds of modern football.
“They’re both Hall of Famers in their own right, defensive geniuses,” he said. “So I wouldn’t be doing anyone any justice comparing them. They’re both great, both legends.
“Vic has has his own wrinkles and his defense is beautiful. And then Coach Belichick had his own wrinkles that made it beautiful, as well. Coach Spags had his own wrinkles that made his defense beautiful. So each artist has his own unique style.”
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