Is Moro Ojomo for real? Eagles’ sleeper DT faces his biggest test yet

Does training camp start when the players report, when they have their first practice, or when they have their first padded practice? Answer: Yes, and the Philadelphia Eagles are putting the pads on this week, which means that for the third time in the past seven days, football is back.

Everything that you’ve heard in the past week, especially about both the offensive and defensive line, may or may not mean anything until the pads come on. That’s especially true for third-year defensive tackle Moro Ojomo.

What’s real about Moro Ojomo?

In the first round of the 2023 draft, the Eagles drafted Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, two absolute dudes. They followed that up with Tyler Steen, Sydney Brown, Kelee Ringo, and Tanner McKee. Then, in the seventh round, with the 249th pick (the last non-compensatory pick of the entire draft), they drafted Moro Ojomo, the defensive tackle from Texas. 

When it comes to as late a pick as that, the expectations are incredibly low. He went from playing just 66 total defensive snaps his rookie year to playing 370 in 2024; it was clear that Vic Fangio trusted him, and it’s a really good thing if he trusts you.

When Milton Williams left in free agency, it was pretty clear the Eagles were cool with Ojomo taking the reins and having a much bigger role as a rotational defensive tackle. In order to do that (effectively), he was going to need to step up his game.

Luckily, by most accounts, Moro Ojomo’s been doing exactly that and having an awesome training camp. He’s showing off his quickness, speed, strength, and power; he’s consistently winning in one-on-ones and team drills, and he’s been flashing while he does it. And for a seventh-rounder going into year three? Wooo buddy, that’s sick. 

I’m not trying to poo-poo his growth. I’m saying that there are a few reasons that he’s been popping: He’s gotten better, but he’s been rushing against Tyler Steen, and Jalen Carter hasn’t been there.

First of all, the progression is clearly there, and that’s not something that can be said about a lot of seventh-round picks. It’s great to see a Leviathan-sized defensive line coach like Clint Hurtt be able to develop an undersized tackle like Ojomo. That’s legitimately super cool. However, he’s also spent a good chunk of time rushing against Tyler Steen, and they’ve been practicing without pads.

To be fair to Steen, teammates, coaches, and beat reporters have been saying good things about him, so there’s no reason to think he’s not going to be the guy… but not having full pads affects offensive linemen the same way it affects defensive linemen. It even gives a little bit of an edge to the defense since the O-Line can’t necessarily body up and engage the way they actually would. The fact of the matter is that we simply don’t know enough about Steen to say that Ojomo beating him is an impressive thing.

Then you take into account the lack of Jalen Carter: without him there, Ojomo’s been the guy getting all of the eyes on him, so it makes sense that he’s been popping. It’d be a big problem if there were zero talk about Ojomo because that means no one’s stepped up.

Once Carter gets healthy and gets full (or close to full) reps on defense, he’ll be rushing against Steen, and Ojomo will be getting more Landon Dickerson. That’s a whole lot tougher.

Ojomo winning against a well-known hoss like Dickerson is going to be much, much more impressive and much, much more important. Luckily, Carter moved from “Will Not Participate” to a “Limited participant” on Monday’s practice. 

That matches up nicely with the move to full pads, so Ojomo’s daily battles with Dickerson are going to give us a way clearer picture of who he is and where he’s at. Hopefully everything he’s done so far in camp is going to stick; I’m sure he’ll still be good, but he might not look like the out-of-nowhere world beater that he’s been. 

There’s a chance that over the next few weeks of camp, we’ll start to hear less about Ojomo. Just don’t forget that against Tyler-Steen level guards, he crushed… and there are a whole lot more Steen-type guys in the NFL than there are Dickerson-type guys.

On the other side of that coin, he could absolutely body Dickerson, and the hype could reach critical levels. We’ll find out soon though. 

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