PHILADELPHIA – He might be the reason the Eagles don’t open the vault for Milton Williams. Still, they will need more at defensive tackle, but Moro Ojomo in rotation with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis could be a good place to start if Williams leaves in free agency, which is the expectation.
Drafted in the seventh round just two years ago, Ojomo took some giant steps forward in his second season, and his first with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt.
“Just with Hurtt and Vic and this defense and having the opportunity to play the run, play the pass, get more reps and grow in my second year was really cool,” he said on Thursday, the day before the Eagles’ championship parade. “I just want to keep furthering that development.”
Ojomo played just six percent of the defensive snaps as a rookie, just 68 in all. It was a land of confusion a season ago, with defensive coordinator Sean Desai beginning the year then being replaced by Matt Patricia.
Feels like forever ago, after what happened in Caesars Superdome in Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9. Ojomo played 25 snaps (45 percent), making two tackles, including one for a loss in the 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
“I think I played well. It was fun and it was cool to play well at that stage,” he said. “I’m obsessed with getting better. I’m gonna enjoy this, celebrate this, but we don’t want to be done. We want to keep going. You enjoy things, take it, but what’s next?”
Indeed, what’s next?
He sounds like many others in the Eagles locker room, including quarterback Jalen Hurts - ready to pursue back-to-back championships.
There will be changes to the roster because that happens every year. When the Eagles lost the Super Bowl two years ago, they lost defensive tackle Javon Hargrave to a four-year, $81 million contract to the 49ers in free agency after Hargrave posted a career-high 11 sacks.
Ojomo showed he can be a productive member of the d-line, even if, as Fangio has said, that he’s a little light at 292 pounds. Williams, though, is 290 and the same height as Ojomo at 6-3.
Williams took off in his fourth season, especially after Brandon Graham went down on Nov. 24. That’s when the Eagles made him more of a three-down player, allowing him to rush the passer more than he had been. He had five sacks in the regular season then put up two more with a strip-sack of Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl.
Ojomo notched his first career sack in the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams.
“The goal is to always improve and keep climbing,” said Ojomo. “Milt took that step this year and I want to take that step in my career as well.”
