Jonathan Greenard Is ‘Your Favorite Player’s Favorite Player’
The Philadelphia Eagles were unable to re-sign edge rusher Jaelan Phillips in free agency. Yet there was no need to worry, as Eagles general manager Howie Roseman had another trick up his sleeve, as he seemingly always does. Philadelphia traded a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings for Pro Bowl edge rusher Jonathan Greenard and a 2026 seventh-round pick.
Upon arriving in Philadelphia, Greenard also signed a four-year, $100 million contract extension with the Eagles. After entering last season without a clear top edge rusher, the Eagles had to pivot to trading for Phillips at the trade deadline. Now Philadelphia will enter next season with an established, Pro Bowl edge defender leading their pass rush.
Yet Greenard is more than just a great edge rusher, he’s also a phenomenal teammate. NFL consultant and pass rush specialist Javon Gopie recently joined The Philly Special Show with Josh Davis for an exclusive interview to discuss his experience working with Greenard, along with several other topics.
(Watch the full interview in the latest video on the episodes tab or at this link: https://youtu.be/urOJgaAixJ0?si=7jM74i0PkAHnaJeI)
“JG, Jonathan Greenard, is a great athlete,” Gopie said. “I got the opportunity to work with JG years ago, started off when he was with the Texans, right before he went to the Vikings. He was a great mentor to one of my young guys that I’ve worked with for years, Dallas Turner.”
Greenard recently joined Green Light with Chris Long and talked about how excited he is to watch Turner take the next step with the Vikings. Now the soon-to-be 29-year-old will look to have a similar impact on Philadelphia’s young group at the position. Greenard already talked about his team-first mentality during his introductory press conference in Philadelphia.
“It’s not necessarily all about getting back to double-digits, it’s more-so how can we affect the quarterback,” Greenard said. “If I get the quarterback down, cool. Everybody knows that’s the intention, that’s the goal and the mindset once that ball is snapped.”
“But if somebody else, say Nolan (Nolan Smith), JC (Jalen Carter), or JD (Jordan Davis) get it, I’m more than happy, that's a sack to me in my mind. As long as we're affecting the game, I promise you we’re going to be in a good spot.”
While the Eagles may have dealt with a few selfish edge rushers in the past, that seemingly won’t be the case with Greenard. Despite only arriving in the City of Brotherly Love last month, it’s clear that Greenard is going to fit in well on this team. Gopie spoke highly of Greenard and even revealed that he has plenty of fans amongst his peers around the league.
“I think very highly of Jonathan Greenard. He’s a great pro, he’s a pro’s pro,” Gopie said. “Like he’s probably your favorite player’s favorite player, honestly. He’s just that type of guy. Great locker room guy.”
After things seemingly went off the rails down the final stretch in Philadelphia last season, it’s important to add players and people such as Greenard. It’s easy to take the bait and get excited about what a player says publicly. But it was especially promising to hear Gopie echo the same things about Greenard after working with him.