PHILADELPHIA — Azeez Ojulari was standing a few feet away from his locker Wednesday with a smile on his face as he contemplated the sometimes confusing and sometimes amusing ride he has been on since signing with the Eagles in mid-March.
After four seasons with the Giants during which he proved he could pressure the passer but couldn’t remain healthy, Ojulari decided to move down the Jersey Turnpike and over the Walt Whitman Bridge.
The Eagles gave the fifth-year edge rusher a one-year deal worth $3 million and it sure seemed like a good landing spot when he arrived in training camp considering the roster vacancies left by Josh Sweat (signed as a free agent by Arizona), Bryce Huff (traded to San Francisco) and Brandon Graham (retired).
That trio combined to play 1,218 of the team’s 2,005 snaps at edge rusher last season, so it sure appeared as if there was a place for a 25-year-old edge rusher with 22 sacks in 46 games to at the very least be part of the rotation.
And then the season started.
* In Week 1, Ojulari and fellow veteran edge rusher Ogbo Okoronkwo were both inactive.
* After Week 1, the Eagles signed veteran edge rusher Za’Darius Smith and Ojulari’s standing in the edge-rushing room plummeted some more.
* In Weeks 2 and 3, Ojulari and Okoronkwo were again inactive.
When Nolan Smith landed on injured reserve after the Eagles’ Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Rams, it seemed as though Ojulari’s chance to get on the field and prove himself had finally arrived.
It had not.
Okoronkwo dressed in Week 4 at Tampa Bay. Ojulari did not.
Finally, after Okoronkwo suffered a season-ending triceps injury against the Buccaneers, Ojulari suited up for the Eagles’ Week 5 game against the Denver Broncos.
He responded with a what-took-you-so-long performance, recording a pressure and a tackle for a loss in the Eagles’ fall-from-ahead loss to the Broncos. That earned him a start in Week 6 against the Giants.
“It’s crazy,” Ojulari said. “Stuff happens in this game and this league we’re in. You just have to play the cards your dealt and go with it. You go with it one day at a time and you hope your opportunity pops up. I was just trying to be positive every day.”
Ojulari didn’t play quite as well against his former team in Week 6, but when he reported to work Monday following the team’s weekend off he learned that his role in the edge-rushing rotation had been strengthened once again — this time by the news that Za’Darius Smith had retired.
“I was shocked,” Ojulari said. “Monday we came into lift and Z wasn’t here and we were all wondering where he was at. And somebody said, ‘He called and said he was retiring.’ I was like, ‘What, this is Week 6. What happened?’ I know he was year 11. I have to call him and see what happened.”
While Ojulari is back on the field, he has yet to take part in an Eagles’ victory and he admitted that it wasn’t much fun losing to his former team at MetLife Stadium.
“It was a tough loss,” he said. “I ain’t going to lie about that.”
Ojulari did get a win the last time he played in Minnesota, which is where the Eagles will face the Vikings on Sunday. In fact, it was the biggest win during his four seasons with the Giants and it was also a microcosm of his career in East Rutherford. He had a tackle for a loss to force a first-quarter punt, but only played eight snaps because of a quad injury during the Giants’ 31-24 Wild Card victory.
Ojulari was also limited to 14 snaps the following week when the Giants were eliminated by the Eagles.
Now, he has the chance he has been waiting for with the Eagles and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, his former Giant teammate, believes he’ll make the most of it.
“We chit chat earlier in the year,” Jackson said. “I think the biggest thing we talked about was keeping the positive attitude. I was able to relate with him because last year in New York I only came in on third downs at one point, so I was probably getting like five plays, which is crazy. If it was third-and-four plus I’d get in. Eventually things happened and things change and I was able to start.
“But I watched him and he continued to motor and he kept his head high and kept good spirits about the situation he was in. If you do your work and do the things you’re supposed to do then things will go in your favor. He did a great job with that.”
Jackson, of course, has had his own fascinating journey through the first six weeks of the season, going from starter for three weeks to losing his job after an injury to now being back as a starter for Sunday’s game against the Vikings.
His last memory of playing in Minnesota is also a fond one.
It was his job, with safety help from Xavier McKinney, to travel with Vikings superstar Justin Jefferson in that Giants’ playoff victory and it did not start well. Jefferson had four catches for 30 yards and the Vikings scored a touchdown on the game’s opening drive.
Jefferson had three catches for 17 yards the remainder of the game.
“It was a good game,” Jackson said. “I was coming off a (calf) injury that kept me out like eight weeks … but I think that game was the collective of the team. I think we did a great job defensively. That was my most profound win as a Giant.”
Ojulari and Jackson will take their first trip back to Minnesota since that game with the Eagles this weekend and they’re hoping to leave with another victory.
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