Jordan Mailata is ready to let opposing offensive linemen deal with Moro Ojomo for a while.
He’s seen about enough of the rookie.
“I love Mo. I love that man,” Mailata said. “But he is a f—g bastard when he comes to the scout team. That man is relentless.
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“And it’s a credit to why we are the way we are. We practice hard and fast and technique has to be on point because guys like Moro, who are high effort, strong as hell, smart, technique-driven, they’ll ruin the play if your technique is off one bit.”
While Ojomo has been an absolute menace on the scout team this season — he was the Eagles’ back-to-back scout team player of the week in Weeks 5-6 — he’s finally going to get a chance to play more on Sundays.
The Eagles earlier this week traded away veteran defensive tackle Kentavius Street. That means there will be some extra snaps to go to Ojomo, the rookie seventh-round pick out of Texas.
Through the first eight weeks of the season, Ojomo has played in just two games and has just nine total snaps on defense. But he’ll help to replace Street, who had played 87 snaps (17%) up to this point.
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And Ojomo can’t wait.
“I’m pretty excited,” Ojomo said after Thursday’s practice. “I think at the end of the day, I’m a guy that lives for the opportunities and (want to) hit it out the park. I don’t know, that’s my mindset. I mentioned it to you before. I look at life like I’m a hitter and it’s three balls, two strikes, I’m swinging the s— out of my bat. I’m going to try to swing for the fences, home run.”
The Eagles drafted Ojomo in the seventh round (No. 249 overall) out of the University of Texas this spring. He was their seventh and final selection in this year’s class. During training camp, Ojomo really began to flash and made the 53-man roster, even though that meant that the Eagles kept seven defensive tackles.
But when the Falcons lost star defensive tackle Grady Jarrett for the year, Howie Roseman opportunistically shipped Street to Atlanta. Not only did that trade give the Eagles a chance to add a sixth-round pick but it opened up a much-needed roster spot and it’ll give Ojomo more chances.
“I’m excited for him,” Fletcher Cox said. “He works his butt off. I think he’s been scout team player of the week for like two or three weeks in a row, getting those guys ready, the offense. My message to him has always been if you can beat Lane Johnson, it only helps you get better. You’re going against our first-team offense so you should take advantage of every opportunity you get.”
The two weeks Ojomo was named the scout team player of the week were when the Eagles were preparing to face the Rams and the Jets in back-to-back weeks. So the offensive line was getting ready to deal with Aaron Donald and Quinnen Williams. And it was Ojomo working to give them those good looks.
The Eagles have obviously been very impressed by the way Ojomo has attacked his scout team responsibilities.
“I’m a big believe in the power of the mind and the power of confidence and self-belief and all those things,” Ojomo said. “I go out there every day and (think) ‘I’m great, I can do this. I’m a really, really good player. Can’t be blocked.’ I go after it every single play.”
He’ll finally get more of those chances on game days. And you can bet Mailata will be watching.
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