Vic Fangio Reveals Promising Words on Eagles' Jonathan Greenard

Among the many impressive moves the Philadelphia Eagles made throughout the offseason, free agency, NFL draft, and every other avenue, trading for edge rusher Jonathan Greenard was at the top of that list. 

Greenard was one of the better players traded during the offseason, giving Philadelphia an edge rusher who can get to the quarterback at a very high level. If Greenard is healthy and is playing the type of football that we all know he can, there's a scenario in which he can post a 10-plus sack season.

However, the veteran hasn't been on the field much during the offseason, currently on the PUP list due to a pectoral strain. It's an unfortunate situation for the Eagles. 

They want to get him up to speed and comfortable with this defense, but it doesn't feel like it's too big of a problem to Vic Fangio, Philadelphia's defensive coordinator.

“When he does come back, whenever that is, the thing you miss by not partaking in training camp — which he probably won’t — you gotta get calloused to playing NFL football,” Fangio said, per PFT. “The banging, the running, the change of direction, the fatigue of it. He’s gonna lose that. . . . That’s gonna be something we have to be conscious with him when he does get back.”

The promising sign is that Greenard has been in the league for quite some time now. 

This isn't a guy who is going to have to learn schemes, figure out what it takes to play in the NFL, and get up to speed with everything. He knows what it takes to play at this level and is doing everything besides being on the field to ensure he can still do just that.

“Fangio said Greenard has been participating in meetings and other behind the scenes work, which should join his experience in helping him make up for lost time. The timetable means that the team will still likely have to lean on Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt and other pass rushers early in the season,” PFT wrote.