PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Arnold Ebiketie remembers when he became an Eagles fan.<\/p>\n
The edge rusher, a native of Cameroon, was a freshman at Temple University in 2017 and witnessed the city\u2019s first Super Bowl championship celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know how the city gets after a Super Bowl here in Philly,\u201d Ebiketie said at his introductory news conference Monday. \u201cI remember being a young kid at Temple and walking from Cecil B. Moore all the way down Broad Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole city rallies around the team. You see the passion everywhere. It\u2019s hard not to get caught up in it. \u2026 Coming back to the same city at this stage of my career is something I\u2019m grateful for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Ebiketie, who played three seasons with the Owls before transferring to Penn State, signed a one-year, $7.3 million contract with the Eagles on Friday. It had been a whirlwind week for him and his family, who welcomed a new baby girl named Capri just as free agency was set to open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hoping she would have waited until after free agency \u2026 but she had her own plan, and she came out,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
Ebiketie, also known as \u201cAK\u201d (his middle name is Kevin), was drafted in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons in 2022. He adds rotational reinforcement on the edge after the Birds were unable to re-sign Jaelan Phillips, who left for Carolina.<\/p>\n
In four seasons in Atlanta, Ebiketie started 12 games (appearing in 67) and had 16.5 sacks, 41 QB hits and 129 combined tackles. He\u2019s hoping for a breakout 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cI pride myself on effort and consistency,\u201d he said. \u201cI try to bring energy every snap. Getting after the quarterback is something I take seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, it\u2019s just about learning the playbook and getting comfortable with everything. I want to earn the trust of the coaches and my teammates. \u2026 I\u2019m ready to get to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ebiketie, 27, who went to high school in Montgomery County, Maryland, spoke with defensive tackle Jordan Davis for 30 minutes before opting to sign here. He joins another high-profile Cameroonian athlete in Philadelphia, the 76ers\u2019 Joel Embiid.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t had a chance to meet him yet, but obviously we all know the type of player he is,\u201d Ebiketie said. \u201cAnd given the fact he\u2019s from Cameroon as well, I feel like it\u2019s big for the country \u2014 having different guys be able to represent Cameroon on a basketball stage and a football stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Slay hangs \u2018em up<\/p>\n
Former Eagles cornerback Darius Slay announced his retirement Monday after 13 NFL seasons that included six Pro Bowl selections. \u201cBig Play Slay\u201d helped the Birds reach two Super Bowls, including a championship in Super Bowl LIX.<\/p>\n
He also played for the Detroit Lions \u2014 who drafted in the second round out of Mississippi State \u2014 and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he was awarded All-Pro honors in 2017, when he led the league with eight interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
Follow Christiaan DeFranco on X at @the_defranc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Arnold Ebiketie remembers when he became an Eagles fan. The edge rusher, a native of Cameroon,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":816135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[223,254,2554,224,7,6,9,76246],"class_list":{"0":"post-816134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-falcons","10":"tag-atlantafalcons","11":"tag-falcons","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-top-stories-stt"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116241586381680766","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}