You hear it all the time from Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio: How much are the Eagles affecting the quarterback? It comes in a variety of forms, but it is essential to a defense's success.

That's why, when Executive Vice President/General Manager Howie Roseman had an opportunity to add a high-level player to do just that – affect the quarterback – he jumped all over it, adding to a talented and intriguing room for the 2026 season: The Eagles on Friday acquired outside linebacker Jonathan Greenard and a seventh-round pick in 2026 (244th overall) from the Minnesota Vikings, in exchange for a third-round draft pick this year (98th overall) and a third-round pick in 2027.

As he does every year, Roseman is using all available assets to build the roster, and this trade certainly illustrates that enormously successful approach.

A Pro Bowl selection, Greenard has been a disruptive player since entering the league in 2020 as a third-round draft pick (90th overall) from the University of Florida. He signed with the Vikings prior to the 2024 season as one of the league's most highly coveted unrestricted free agents.

In 12 games during the 2025 campaign, Greenard had 47 quarterback pressures and a pass rush win rate of 23.3 percent. Pro Football Focus rated Greenard as the 18th-best pass-rush graded player (77.6) among 118 qualifying edge rushers.

Impressive. And typical of his career.

Sack numbers don't tell the whole story of Greenard's ability to – here is the important part – affect the quarterback.

• Greenard came into his own in Year 2 (2021) with the Texans, starting all 12 games he played and leading the team with eight quarterback sacks. Greenard had 33 total tackles, including nine for loss, 12 quarterback hits, and career highs in passes defensed (4) and forced fumbles (2). In that season, he recorded at least one sack in four consecutive games, tied for the eighth-longest streak in the NFL in 2021.

• In 2022, Greenard played in eight games, starting four, and posted 16 total tackles, including six for loss, 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hits, one interception, one pass defensed, and a fumble recovery. He had his first career interception and returned it 39 yards for a touchdown at Indianapolis in Week 17.

• The 2023 campaign was a breakout one for Greenard, who started all 15 games he appeared in, recording then-career highs in total tackles (52), tackles for loss (15), and sacks (12.5). He became the first Texan to record at least 10 sacks in a single season since J.J. Watt in 2018.

• In his first year in Minnesota in 2024, Greenard earned Pro Bowl acclaim as he started all 17 of the Vikings' regular season contests and recorded 59 total tackles, including 18 for loss, 12 quarterback sacks, 22 quarterback hits, three passes defensed, and four forced fumbles. His 59 tackles marked a single-season career high, as did his 18 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles. He earned NFC Defensive Player of the Month honors in November.

There is, clearly, a lot to like about Greenard, who joins a room that includes Jalyx Hunt, who led the Eagles in quarterback sacks last season with 6.5; Nolan Smith, who had 3 sacks and 11 quarterback hits in 12 games last season; Arnold Ebiketie and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, who signed in free agency. It's yet to be determined whether or not Brandon Graham will return for another season in green, but he remains on the roster.

Get to the quarterback. Affect him. Move him off of his spot. Rush his internal clock. All of those things are what make Greenard, now a Philadelphia Eagle, a player who can impact the defense in the right kind of way for Vic Fangio.