Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat has a lot to prove in 2019

After an injury-riddled rookie season, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat is out to prove his doubters wrong in 2019.

This year, the Philadelphia Eagles were expected to look a lot different on the defensive line. At first, it seemed like defensive end Brandon Graham was going to be out of the picture since his contract was up. Meanwhile, Michael Bennett and Chris Long were on a contract through at least the 2019 season. And to our surprise, Bennett got traded and Long retired all while the Eagles ended up bringing Graham back on a three-year deal anyway. Funny how that worked out.

So the Eagles will miss two key components on the defensive line next season. At this point, we’ve come to grips with it, but we’re not expecting to see the Eagles’ pass rush downgrade in 2019. Instead, we have expectations riding high on the younger guys.

Derek Barnett will be back and healthy after a solid start to his NFL career to play on the opposite side of Graham. However, the rotation is one of the most critical factors to the Eagles’ defensive line. Therefore, the backup defensive ends are just as important as the starters.

We all know the Eagles are high on undrafted free agent, Joe Ostman. So Ostman should be expected to fight for a second-string role along with rookie Shareef Miller on one side. On the other, second-year pass rusher Josh Sweat should already have position locked up — but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he doesn’t have a lot riding on him for the 2019 season. After a disappointing start to his career, followed by a season-ending injury, Sweat knows he has a lot to prove to the Eagles next season.

Big shoes to fill

With the absence of Chris Long, Sweat knows he has some big shoes to fill. Although Chris Long didn’t play a full-time role in Philly, he was still a critical piece to the Eagles pass rushing success over the last two years. Now, Sweat knows he has to follow up by producing just as well, if not better than Long in 2019. As of right now, Sweat has proven nothing to the Eagles, but he isn’t playing it off as if he did. In fact, he recently recognized that his rookie season was a down year.

"“It was very frustrating, I’m not trying to sound cocky but I thought I had what it took to play a lot more … It didn’t happen that way but I still went to work every day at practice. It didn’t matter … I didn’t play a lot but I was ready to go.”"

After a recent discussion with NJ Advanced Media’s Mike Kaye, Sweat revealed that he’s much more focused in year two of his NFL journey. While he didn’t get much playing time in 2018, the knowledge he learned during his rookie season should be beneficial for his Sophomore effort in 2019. So far, Sweat has impressed during OTAs and mandatory minicamp, but the second-year pass rusher has blocked out all outside noise regardless of whether it is positive or negative.

What’re the expectations for Sweat in 2019? Well, for starters, more than a few sacks should be expected. As Long produced a surprisingly high 6.5 sacks to follow his five for the previous season, Sweat should be aiming towards the five or six range. Personally, he doesn’t have a definitive number set for himself, but that should make his 2019 effort much more intriguing — especially if Sweat is able to shake the rust and re-introduce himself as a solid contributor on the front line.