Eagles
Well it looks like Howie did it again. The best General Manager in sports has made another play miles ahead of his competition for player acquisition. I’m of course talking about Uar Bernard and Josh Weru. They’re the cover photo after all so you shouldn’t be surprised. While some GMs may look at small schools or Division II & III programs, Howie went outside the continent.
If you aren’t familiar with these two, Uar Bernard and Josh Weru are from Nigeria and Kenya respectively. What’s interesting about these two players is that they’ve never played American football in their lives. They’re part of the International Players Pathway (IPP) program that the NFL is setting up for this exact reason. This is the same program that helped bring Jordan Mailata to the team in 2018. Clearly Howie is seeing an untapped market of physically gifted athletes.
Enough of the history lesson, let’s look at their on the field tape. Now I will tell you I have rose-colored glasses on when watching these two. For one it’s the preseason so they’re not playing against starters. The other is that it’s a feel-good story but we’ll touch on that later.
Their first game might not have had a flashy plays but it also it also was devoid of any negative plays. Not bad for two players that haven’t played a lick of football. If you dropped me into a surgical unit and I managed not to let anyone die, I would consider that a massive success. Now do I think NFL players are as talented as doctors/nurses? Absolutely not, but they do both face massive amounts of pressure on them. Not to mention they’re playing in Philly so fair or not they probably hold the lives of some people in their hands.
Let’s get to game two of the preseason because things actually happened. We’ll start with Uar Bernard’s performance. Specifically two plays. The first just looks like a simple pressure and for a lot of other players it would be just that.
The main thing I’m looking at here is where Bernard’s head is, looking at the quarterback. This shows an understanding of the game and defensive line responsibility. Doing this while also pushing the opposing 300-pound lineman back is a flex to show why his raw talent got him drafted.
Uar gets a good pop on the RG, extends his arms and in position to read the RB.
Gap closes, he disengages easily, and makes the tackle.
All this from a man who never played 20 snaps of football in his life at that point.#Eagles pic.twitter.com/szTM7wV0fx
— Thomas R. Petersen (@thomasrp93) August 23, 2026
This next play shows his intelligence. It’s very easy to say that a successful d-lineman gets into the back field. Truth is, that’s the flashy part of the position. More importantly, you want them to cover their spot on the line. Uar does this perfectly on this play. Between shedding the blocker, staying in his gap, and making the tackle, this is textbook. Again, not flashy, but this is what a real NFL player does and what keeps them in the league.
Next we’ll break down some Josh Weru plays. There’s three plays in the clip but only one that really shows what we can expect. Luckily it’s on the best play, the sack. The thing to look at here is the speed. Weru runs a stunt move so fakes inside before going outside to swing and pick up the sack. Another example of the amount of speed and raw talent Howie picked up with these two players. The other two are fairly routine but you like to see a new player make an impact.
Either one of these players succeeding would be textbook movie plot. A player from another country learns to a play a new sport that can bring generational wealth to them and their family? I’m willing to bet you can even think of the exact plot to a movie like that. It also fits well with the franchise that brought you the story of a journeyman backup QB starting in the playoffs to eventually beat the best QB in history. I have a video of what that would hypothetically look like below. Or you know how it’s the same story we have for Jordan Mailata.
I’m very excited for these two. I’m hoping they continue to advance to where they make the final team roster or can be stashed away on the practice squad for a year. The good news is that they are firmly a project for any team that would try and poach them. Hopefully this means they’re wary to try and steal these players. I want to see these players develop into household names Eagles fans can brag about for decades to come.
Sources: NBC Sports Philadelphia, NFL Performances on X, NFL on YouTube, NFL Draft Files on X, and Thomas R Petersen on X
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Hello, I’m a greater Philadelphia native writing mostly about the Eagles and the rest of the NFL. Articles aren’t … More about Kyle Lavin
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