July 28, 2025
Colleen Claggett/for PhillyVoice
Joshua Uche #13 of the Philadelphia Eagles performs a drill during the Philadelphia Eagles training camp at the NovaCare Complex in Philadelphia, Pa. on Tuesday, June 3, 2025.
You’ve heard the expression, “What’s in a name?”
For new Eagles edge rusher Josh Uche, it’s, “What’s in a number?”
Uche, a once-promising pass rusher who had 11.5 sacks for the Patriots in 2022, is wearing No. 0 this season for the Eagles, with whom he signed in the offseason after barely playing last year for the Chiefs, who traded for him halfway through the season.
There’s a message behind the numeral on the back of his jersey.
“I felt like you gotta start at ground zero,” he explained Monday after Eagles training camp practice on a sweltering morning at the NovaCare Complex. “I’ve been at the top of my pass-rushing game in my third year, but you got to start from ground zero and work your way back up.”
That’s where the former Michigan standout finds himself in year six of his career after the Patriots took him 60th overall and watched him briefly grow into a Pro Bowl-caliber force.
But Uche hasn’t come close to matching the same number of sacks or even the nine tackles for a loss and 14 quarterback hits he charted in 2022.
In fact, you can combine those three pass-rush stats from the past three seasons and not come close to replicating his breakout season.
After three sacks, three tackles for a loss and six quarterback hits in 2023, Uche barely produced last year in seven games for the Patriots and was dealt to the Chiefs before the deadline in exchange for a future pick that ended up being a sixth-rounder.
Uche never played more than 11 snaps in any of his first four games with the Chiefs and was inactive for four of the final games, playing only in the season finale before going back to inactive for the Chiefs’ postseason games.
The steep decline led to scant interest on the free-agent market, which enabled the Eagles to sign him to a modest one-year deal.
So when he says he’s restarting his career at the bottom, he’s not being hyperbolic. He’s competing for a spot on the 53-man roster that isn't guaranteed and an opportunity to reestablish his career as a rotational piece of the Eagles’ pass rush.
So far in camp, Uche has mainly ran with the second team opposite another veteran one-year pickup, Azeez Ojulari, as projected starters Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt have absorbed most of the first-team reps.
When the pads come out Tuesday, Uche is hoping to showcase even more. The Eagles were in shorts and shells for the first time in camp Monday, but the pads coming out represent a crucial time period for a veteran like Uche.
“It’s very important to be able to show off the explosiveness, translate speed to power,” Uche said. “It’s one thing if a guy is fast, but it’s another thing if his power can translate, too. The pads is a great way to see all those things come together and connect – work your hands, work your physicality, those things.”
Uche is on his third team in two seasons but he’s also joining a team that's helped many resurrect their careers on “prove-it” deals, including last year’s examples of right guard Mekhi Becton and inside linebacker Zack Baun.
Baun, another Big Ten alum who played at Wisconsin, and Uche have known each other since coming out of college and preparing for the NFL Draft. They trained together in Arizona and have stayed in touch.
Uche reached out to Baun when he signed with the Eagles to reconnect again, and felt the optimism after their conversation.
“When I talked to him about coming here to Philly I could just see it in his eye what Philly meant to him and... coming from New England and the situation I was in, that and all that stuff, that energy, I fed off that instantly,” Uche said. “I felt it. So from there I felt like this was the best place to give me that chance. I know I can capitalize on that opportunity.”
Baun is the poster child for thriving on a one-year deal, becoming an overnight success last season as he emerged from being a reserve edge rusher and special teamer during his four seasons with the Saints into an All Pro with the Eagles at a position he had just learned and now one of the top-paid players at his position.
It’s probably not fair to expect Uche to duplicate the success that Baun and Becton had, but seeing the development of those two last season sure helped Uche with his decision to sign with the Eagles, and to dream big in 2025.
“Of course. It just shows what kind of organization this is,” Uche said. “They’re able to bring guys in, give them a chance, build around them, help them fulfill their potential and turn them into something beautiful, a beautiful product. It just says a lot about the organization, says a lot about the players, says a lot about the coaching.”
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