Report: Eagles keep inquiring about Vikings pass rusher Jonathan Greenard

After missing out on some top-level edge rushers, including retaining Jaelan Phillips, the Eagles are reportedly pursuing a trade for Vikings pass rusher Jonathan Greenard.

By Geoff Mosher
PhillyVoice Staff

Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images

Howie Roseman has his eyes on Vikings LB Jonathan Greenard.

The Eagles really need help in the pass-rush department after Jaelan Phillips left them to agree on a free-agent mega deal with the Panthers.

They took a swing at four-time Pro Bowl DE Trey Hendrickson, but the former Bengal signed with Baltimore after the Ravens backed out of their Maxx Crosby trade. Another potential option, Bradley Chubb, who played for Vic Fangio in Miami, reportedly signed a new deal with the Bills.

With few impact edge rushers left on the market, the Eagles might have to find their next one via trade.

Per The Athletic's Dianna Russini, the Eagles have stayed in contact with the Vikings regarding a trade for two-time Pro Bowl edge Jonathan Greenard. Russini reported that Eagles Executive Vice President of Football Operations Howie Roseman is even willing to extend Greenard's deal, which would be a pay raise.

After the NFL Scouting Combine, an ESPN Combine buzz report from Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano indicated that the Vikings were willing to trade the 28-year-old Greenard, a one-time Pro Bowler, and the Eagles were a team to watch.

Greenard had consecutive seasons of 12+ sacks in 2023 (with Houston) and 2024 (with Minnesota), and has really good speed off the edge. The 6-foot-3, 295-pound pass rusher has played in a 4-3 defense and 3-4 front. He has 38 sacks and 8 forced fumbles in his six-year career, with 59 starts. He was a third-round pick by the Texans in 2020.

If the Eagles trade for him, Greenard would join Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt and Jose Ramirez as the only edge defenders under contract with the Birds.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/report-eagles-inquiring-trade-jonathan-greenard-vikings-contract-extension/

I don’t hate it I’ll say that… We need more at DE but Greenard could be a good addition that just eases the need to take a DE early in the draft.

Another guy who can't stay healthy and had 2 great seasons and 4 duds. In 6 seasons. Not really excited about this move either.

7 hours ago, Bwestbrook36 said:

Another guy who can't stay healthy and had 2 great seasons and 4 duds. In 6 seasons. Not really excited about this move either.

I'm really hoping to keep the draft pick (likely a 3rd) and use it on a player we'd have under control for the next 4 years on a much cheaper rookie contract.

On 3/14/2026 at 4:53 PM, time2rock said:

I'm really hoping to keep the draft pick (likely a 3rd) and use it on a player we'd have under control for the next 4 years on a much cheaper rookie contract.

I'd probably lean this way. I don't think a player like Greenard is going to move the needle a whole bunch. Do I think he's a decent player? Sure. Do I think he'd be a decent addition? Sure. But he isn't going to move the needle much for us and ultimately where I am at is that this feels more like a retool / rebuild than it feels like a year where we are all out going for it. So yeah keep the pick, use it to bring in a player who we can develop (and can hopefully contribute in some way early on) and like you say have a player under contract who is relatively cheap.

33 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I'd probably lean this way. I don't think a player like Greenard is going to move the needle a whole bunch. Do I think he's a decent player? Sure. Do I think he'd be a decent addition? Sure. But he isn't going to move the needle much for us and ultimately where I am at is that this feels more like a retool / rebuild than it feels like a year where we are all out going for it. So yeah keep the pick, use it to bring in a player who we can develop (and can hopefully contribute in some way early on) and like you say have a player under contract who is relatively cheap.

Last year I felt we would take a (slight) step back ... we did. That wasn't exactly going out on a limb though. We lost a good OC and replaced him with what most of us knew immediately was going to be a failure at OC and we also lost a decent amount of talent that played key roles on defense.

This year, I expect us to take a (slight) step back again. Howie will have his work cut out to add talent to the roster and work his magic with the cap. Adding someone like Greenard isn't going to be the difference in raising another banner the following offseason so I think it would be foolish to commit the fairly high draft pick it would take to land him and the cap space.

Greenard would very likely be better than any 3rd round edge rusher we'd draft. I would actually kind of see him as a "needle mover" in the sense that it brings the needle back to where it was at the end of last season. So, in essence, the needle has moved to the left (towards E) after losing Phillips and Uche in FA, but would move back towards the right with Greenard/Ebiketie as far as our Edge Rusher rotation is concerned. Greenard obviously isn't flashy and would likely only be a 2 year guy, but he'd be more valuable this year over whatever Edge we could get in the 3rd round.

That said, I do wonder if there'd be more value in just signing Epenesa vs giving up draft capital for Greenard. Greenard is probably a little better than Epenesa, but probably not 3rd round value better.

In any case, I can take it or leave it with Greenard. Ultimately, I just want Edge to be addressed in some fashion where we don't have to force a Day 1 or Day 2 pick at that position due to need when we have other pressing needs along the OL, TE, S and WR.

21 hours ago, EaglesAddict said:

Greenard would very likely be better than any 3rd round edge rusher we'd draft. I would actually kind of see him as a "needle mover" in the sense that it brings the needle back to where it was at the end of last season. So, in essence, the needle has moved to the left (towards E) after losing Phillips and Uche in FA, but would move back towards the right with Greenard/Ebiketie as far as our Edge Rusher rotation is concerned. Greenard obviously isn't flashy and would likely only be a 2 year guy, but he'd be more valuable this year over whatever Edge we could get in the 3rd round.

That said, I do wonder if there'd be more value in just signing Epenesa vs giving up draft capital for Greenard. Greenard is probably a little better than Epenesa, but probably not 3rd round value better.

In any case, I can take it or leave it with Greenard. Ultimately, I just want Edge to be addressed in some fashion where we don't have to force a Day 1 or Day 2 pick at that position due to need when we have other pressing needs along the OL, TE, S and WR.

It's not just about the draft pick ... it is also about the contract/salary cap space. He is reportedly looking for a bump in pay from what he is getting currently (>$20M). We need players on cheaper rookie contracts in order to have the cap space to sign our own impending FAs (Mitchell, Carter, DeJean, etc.).

53 minutes ago, time2rock said:

It's not just about the draft pick ... it is also about the contract/salary cap space. He is reportedly looking for a bump in pay from what he is getting currently (>$20M). We need players on cheaper rookie contracts in order to have the cap space to sign our own impending FAs (Mitchell, Carter, DeJean, etc.).

I can understand it if you simply don't think he's worth it. But otherwise, Howie was already willing to pay Phillips pretty good money so that shows he's apparently not worried about that aspect. And with Greenard's contract/raise...I'm sure there would/could be a way for Howie to give him a "raise" without killing our cap any worse than it would have been with Phillips. It's also highly likely that Greenard would ultimately be cheaper than what we offered Phillips.

Just now, EaglesAddict said:

I can understand it if you simply don't think he's worth it. But otherwise, Howie was already willing to pay Phillips pretty good money so that shows he's apparently not worried about that aspect. And with Greenard's contract/raise...I'm sure there would/could be a way for Howie to give him a "raise" without killing our cap any worse than it would have been with Phillips. It's also highly likely that Greenard would ultimately be cheaper than what we offered Phillips.

I didn’t want to re-sign Phillips for the same cap concerns. Committing to him or Greenard is just going to keep us in this cap constrained situation we’ve been in for the past couple seasons making it extremely difficult to keep our own that deserve new contracts and watching many of them walk because we don’t have the proper cap space to do so.

20 minutes ago, time2rock said:

I didn’t want to re-sign Phillips for the same cap concerns. Committing to him or Greenard is just going to keep us in this cap constrained situation we’ve been in for the past couple seasons making it extremely difficult to keep our own that deserve new contracts and watching many of them walk because we don’t have the proper cap space to do so.

I get it...but I've basically stopped even trying to think about cap ramifications. I have to imagine Howie realizes this and has a plan. Part of that plan likely involves creating even more cap space once AJ is traded (I think that is definitely happening).

Either way, I have trust in Howie and that he'll get our core players signed long term regardless of if he trades for Greenard or anyone else.

6 minutes ago, EaglesAddict said:

I get it...but I've basically stopped even trying to think about cap ramifications. I have to imagine Howie realizes this and has a plan. Part of that plan likely involves creating even more cap space once AJ is traded (I think that is definitely happening).

Either way, I have trust in Howie and that he'll get our core players signed long term regardless of if he trades for Greenard or anyone else.

I’d like to think so too and hope you’re right but we’ve seen conflicting moves recently when we were unable to re-sign players like Williams and Sweat for example (and now a year later we’re looking for EDGE help and reportedly have interest in trading for Sweat 😵‍💫).

But I also just don’t think Greenard is all that good … not worth a 3rd and definitely not worth >$20M a year.

On 3/18/2026 at 11:33 AM, time2rock said:

But I also just don’t think Greenard is all that good … not worth a 3rd and definitely not worth >$20M a year.

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Huff 2.0, no thanks.