Uar Bernard And Joshua Weru Take Another Big Step In Football Journey

Uar Bernard and Joshua Weru take another big step in football journey originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Joshua Weru doesn’t really know how it happened.

He was just happy it did.

In his second-ever football game, the Eagles’ edge rusher from Kenya was able to get around sixth-round pick Dametrious Crownover to sack Patriots quarterback Behren Morton in the third quarter.

“I was just happy,” Weru said. “I think I tired myself out more celebrating than actually running to get the sack. It’s just all the work we’ve been putting in and all the support I’ve been getting from my coaches, players. I think you saw how happy all of the people in my room were for me. You can see how much it means to them, my development.”

And it’s not just Weru. He and seventh-round pick Uar Bernard — the crop of the same International Player Pathway program — both got into the box score on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium.

Weru had 3 tackles and a sack and Bernard had the first two tackles of his football career.

“It means a lot,” Bernard said. “I feel happy to be out there with my brother Josh. I told him earlier, we’re going to make some plays. It feels good to have him have his first own sack and I have my own tackles too.”

Both Bernard and Weru have been great stories this summer but they’re slowly turning into more than that. Both of them have shown flashes of what they could become down the line.

Of course, grizzled defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has tempered those expectations. Earlier in the week, Fangio called Bernard and Weru their “two exchange dudes” and warned that they still have a long way to go.

And that’s obviously true. No one is expecting either of them to step into their rookie seasons as stars or to even be real contributors. Think back to the beginning of Jordan Mailata’s career and how long it took for him to become a viable offensive tackle in the NFL.

But the strides we’ve seen from both this summer have been obvious. And with their success, their confidence has grown.

“I told him earlier that he was going to get a sack,” Bernard said. “I’m going to get a tackle. I feel like God communicated through me that we’re going to do our best today and it’s come out excellent.”

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman is going to have a bunch of tough decisions as he puts together the initial 53-man roster in a week. And one of the most difficult questions to answer is what to do with Bernard and Weru. The Eagles have invested too much and those two have shown too much promise to risk losing them on waivers. But can you really have two brand new football players on a 53-man roster?

Even if Bernard and Weru aren’t ready to contribute in regular season games, it means something that they are able to produce in the preseason. It’s obviously a boost for them but their teammates have enjoyed their success too.

“For guys that have never really played football, to come in and perform and see that success, I think it’s awesome,” second-year DT Ty Robinson said. “It’s hard to play football, especially in the NFL. So when you get those sacks or you get the tackle. 

“Even for Uar, he was in on a couple tackles tonight as well. I just told him, be free, have fun out there and when you do, use that to juice you up for the next play to go make another one.”

One of the most exciting moments of Saturday night was when Weru broke through to pick up his first sack. Just don’t ask him how he got it; because after the game, he wasn’t entirely sure.

It looked liked Weru spiked in before getting wide on the tackle, but he admitted, “I’d be lying if I said I tried to do something special.”

But what Weru did was pretty special. He got a sack in his second-ever football game, going against NFL competition. Weru has previously talked about enjoying wins in practice and he said it’s just as important to enjoys wins in games.

And Weru definitely enjoyed this sack. He celebrated hard and then nearly ran off the field before remembering he was on the punt unit.

Maybe he’ll have to come up with an actual sack celebration.

“I probably do,” Weru said. “I think maybe something a bit less tiring than just going all out. I will probably think of something … maybe.”