How tragedy, near-music stardom and his beloved hometown helped shape new Eagle Jonathan Greenard

PHILADELPHIA - Jonathan Greenard stood in the corridor of the Murray Brothers Funeral Home in Atlanta, greeting every guest with a grin and a hug as he tried to fight back tears. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Greenard's whole world had shattered just four days before.

It was March 28, 2014, and a 16-year-old Greenard was grieving the loss of his father Mack Greenard Jr., 51, who had just died of congestive heart failure. Those closest to Jonathan still remember the selflessness and composure the high school sophomore showed that stormy morning.

"I mean, he was a young kid, this is the worst day of his life and yet he's still going around, thanking everybody for coming, making sure his mom is OK," said Stan Halbrooks, Greenard's defensive line coach at Hiram High School. "It sounds cliche, but that's just who Jon is."

The years that followed were grueling. Greenard was thriving on the field - at Louisville and Florida before becoming a third-round pick of the Houston Texans in 2020 - but losing the man who showed him football in the first place shook his morale. Thanks to help from his family, a therapist and some sage wisdom from the chaplain at Louisville, Greenard persevered.

"The advice was so simple," said Carmen Greenard-Varnum, Jonathan's mother. "He told him to look in the stand and find a seat and just imagine that's where your father is sitting. That helped him get through it in his game."

Then, seven years later, his world crumbled again.

On Feb. 1, 2021, four months after his first NFL game, Greenard suffered another tragedy when his stepfather, Washington Varnum Jr., 54, died from complications of COVID-19.

"It was a very, very hard moment in my children's lives," Greenard-Varnum said. "We had just gone through one tragedy - thanks to a lot of therapy - and now we had to overcome another."

It would have been easy for Greenard to spiral. Instead, these hardships motivated him in his journey from an underrated defensive cog into one of the NFL's best pass rushers, one bent on winning a Lombardi Trophy.

He'll have every opportunity to earn one in Philadelphia. The Eagles traded for and promptly extended Greenard in late April. The team hopes he'll replace Jaelan Phillips, who signed with the Carolina Panthers, despite Eagles general manager Howie Roseman's efforts to re-sign him.

Greenard already is winning Philly fans over with his tenacious mindset - which was on display when he first spoke with reporters a day after the Eagles signed him to the four-year, $98 million extension.

When asked what he "reflects on" entering his seventh NFL season, the 28-year-old mentioned Super Bowl rings and even referenced Eagles franchise greats like Brandon Graham, Chris Long, Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat.

"I respect the hell out of the guys that have come before me, and all I can do is continue to just carry that light and make sure the things they've done in the past don't go in vain," Greenard said. "So I love everything about it. I love the historic franchise. I'm wanting to be a part of that.

"I want to be a part of having some hardware on my finger."

‘Philly's going to love him'

In six NFL seasons, Greenard has not played a game at Lincoln Financial Field. And yet, thanks to a raucous first impression, he knows exactly what to expect from Philly sports fans.

Hours after the Eagles acquired him from the Vikings on Day 2 of the NFL draft, Greenard took in Game 3 of the Sixers' first-round playoff series vs. the Boston Celtics at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

The Sixers lost that game, but the environment enthralled the newest Eagle.

"I was just at the Hawks game back home in Georgia, just looking at that and comparing the two. I was just like, man, this environment was way, way better," Greenard said. "No disrespect to them. But ultimately, man, it's different up here, and they take pride [in] it.

"It's a blue-collar city. When you work your tail off, everything is just going to be rewarded back to you."

Greenard prides himself on having a similar mentality. It's what earned him a spot in the league in the first place.

Former Texans coach Bill O'Brien recalls the moment he wanted to draft Greenard. After nursing a high ankle sprain in the two weeks leading up to a ranked matchup vs. Georgia, Greenard, then a star at Florida, did everything he could to play against his home-state team.

His resilience that week, O'Brien said, was the deciding factor in the Texans selecting him with the No. 90 pick in 2020.

"It was such a big deal to us," said O'Brien, now the coach at Boston College. "He was able to be out there, even though his ankle was bothering him. That's the first time we knew, ‘Oh, this guy's tough. He'll do whatever it takes to be in the game.'

"Stuff like that just makes me think, ‘Man, Philly's going to love him.' "

It hasn't all been smooth for Greenard in the NFL. He's played just one full season in six years and underwent season-ending shoulder surgery in Week 15 last season. He had a high pressure rate despite a low sack total in 2025 (three), with 47 pressures, the 30th most in the league, according to Pro Football Focus, and yet the Vikings still moved on from their veteran captain because of salary cap constraints, as ESPN reported in March.

Greenard-Varnum isn't buying that explanation though. She attributes his Vikings departure to a poor scheme fit and thinks Minnesota is going to regret moving on.

"As a parent, I started seeing the shift in a game when they had him playing drop coverage," Greenard-Varnum said. "He's a pass rusher. That was a key move that I saw. … Even though he was playing with an injured shoulder, he was still doing his thing. But when they did that, I said, ‘Something's not right.'

"And so when Philly came up, I said to myself, ‘This would be a great opportunity for him to play with a winning team - a team that got some rings.' He wants a ring badly."

Scheme fit shouldn't be a problem with the Eagles. During his introductory news conference, Greenard seemed giddy about playing under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. The Eagles had the fourth-most team pressures (345) in 2025 and were 12th in sacks (42), so Greenard is ecstatic about getting back to his pass-rush roots.

"Vic will know how to use him," O'Brien said.
"They play four down; they play odd. He's a four-down defensive end in an odd front. He's an outside backer. He can float - meaning he can float at the second level and pressure from up the middle."

Forget the X's and O's: Greenard's former coaches think he'll thrive because of Fangio's gruff coaching style.

"He'll be able to handle Vic," said Todd Grantham, Greenard's defensive coordinator at Florida and Louisville. "Vic's going to like him a lot. It's his demeanor. He's a little bit of an old-school guy. He can take hard coaching and it doesn't rattle him."

‘He never forgot his roots'

Halbrooks doesn't even need to tune in to know when one of Greenard's teams is playing on national TV. The barrage of notifications on his phone usually lets him know.

It starts with one text. Then another. Then another. Then 50 more.

By the end of the night, Halbrooks said he's usually bombarded with over 100 messages as he sits in his Hiram, Ga., living room.

It's all because Greenard proudly introduces himself as "Jonathan Greenard, Hiram High School" on the NBC Sunday Night Football broadcast.

"I get the texts and the comments at school the next day," Halbrooks said with a laugh. "And it may seem like a small thing, but it helps put us on the map. I tell my kids too, ‘That could be you. You could be the next $100 million player like Jonathan is.'"

Despite the fame, the contracts, and all the perks that come with being an NFL player, Greenard kept that same small-town, underdog mentality. He was determined to find success, no matter what field he chose. "He never forgot his roots," Halbrooks said.

He had career options, too. Greenard sang Gospel music in the church choir with his sister, Victoria, and mother, who was the choir director.

This wasn't just a side hobby, either.

When Greenard was 14, he was invited to perform at "The Gift," a singing competition sponsored by McDonald's for young talent in Atlanta. Greenard placed fourth and was invited to the final. After the competition, Greenard-Varnum said her phone was flooded with calls from producers.

"Producers wanted him badly," Greenard-Varnum said. "I asked my Jonathan, ‘Do you want to do this professionally?' He said, ‘No, Mom. I want to play football.' But I'm going to put it to you like this: If he wanted to stop playing football and go to the studio, he could make an album."

Beyond his family's roots in Hiram, Greenard keeps his hometown so close because of coaches like Halbrooks, who took a risk on a once-pudgy, raw athlete. Halbrooks recalls when Greenard excitedly told him his max bench press went up 30 pounds. What seemed like good news at first quickly became a massive red flag to the young D-line coach.

"He says, ‘Coach, my bench press max went up 30 pounds' and I was like ‘Wow man, that's awesome! What is it, 225, 230 or something like that?' Halbrooks said. "Jon goes, ‘Nah, it's 155!'

"And I go, ‘Wait, what?! I'm starting a defensive end who can only bench 155? We need to come up with a plan, son.' Obviously, the plan worked."

It's clear why the Eagles traded for Greenard. He's a rangy, fast-twitch edge who was a captain in Minnesota and will provide an immediate leadership boost.

The injury concerns are valid - though, as Grantham said, it's because Greenard plays a "relentless play style that Eagles fans will love." Roseman was willing to overlook those concerns in his quest for a premium pass rusher to pair with Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt.

He's eager to start OTAs and training camp with his new club, but his mother said Greenard is daydreaming about finally sprinting down the Lincoln Financial Field tunnel in September, the crowd chanting "E-A-G-L-E-S" and going berserk to see their new defensive standout.

After that, Greenard surely will be scouring the stands to search for the empty seat to honor his late father.

"That's the thing he holds onto," Greenard-Varnum said. "He's going to thank the Lord, and say, ‘This was for you, Pops.' "

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 2:41 AM.