Former Eagle Javon Hargrave to make his return after joining the hated 49ers in free agency

Hargrave signed a four-year, $84 million contract with the rival 49ers in March and knows he'll hear his fair share of "junk talking" this Sunday at the Linc because of it.

by Gustav Elvin

Published Nov. 30, 2023, 7:49 p.m. ET

The San Francisco 49ers have been counting down the days until Sunday’s game with the Eagles, ever since the NFL schedule was released in May.

The meeting will be a rematch of last year’s NFC championship game, which the Eagles easily won, 31-7, albeit with what some perceive as an asterisk after Niners quarterback Brock Purdy suffered a severe elbow injury following a first-quarter strip-sack by Haason Reddick. The weeks that followed were dominated by trash talking, complaining, and, as Reddick put it earlier this week, “a lot of boo-hoos” and “a lot of crying” from the 49ers. These teams more than dislike each other — hate probably is a more suitable verb.

But while Kyle Shanahan, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel — who doubled-down on his “trash” talk earlier this week — and the other Niners can’t wait for Sunday’s kickoff, one 49er is a particularly awkward position.

That would be defensive tackle Javon Hargrave, who was on the winning side that day but then signed a four-year, $84 million deal as a free agent with the 49ers in March. It was bad enough the Pro Bowler signed elsewhere following an 11-sack season, although the Eagles drafting Jalen Carter has helped minimize that loss. But signing with a rival, particularly after months of bad blood, couldn’t have gone over well with everyone in the Eagles locker room. The purported betrayal certainly won’t be lost on many the 67,000-plus Eagles fans at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, many of whom may have a few choice words for the new No. 98 in white.

“It’s definitely going to be loud. “We’re going to hear a lot of junk talking,” Hargrave said with a smirk.

Hargrave, though, said he didn’t have this game circled and is just trying to stay focused on the task at hand.

“I just stay out of it; I don’t say much to it,” Hargrave said Wednesday regarding the trash talking, before channeling his inner Jalen Hurts in saying he wants to “keep the main thing, the main thing.”

While Hargrave hasn’t added any verbal fuel to the fire that some of his teammates sparked, he has added a lot to the middle of the 49ers defense. The partnership he’s formed with fellow defensive tackle Arik Armstead has the 49ers ranked No. 2 in the league against the run, while his six sacks are the fourth-most among all defensive tackles.

“I think they play real well off each other,” said Shanahan about his defensive tackles. “I know our production, everything’s gone up huge with our D-line. That’s kind of what I just mean by just the whole group has been doing really well together. It’s never just one guy, and it’s been one guy a lot here, and they’re all different guys, but all of them collectively I feel like are at the top of their game right now.”

All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner also has been impressed with Hargrave and how he’s fit so seamlessly into the team’s defense.

“I’m happy he’s on our side and not their side this time around,” he said regarding Hargrave. “He’s just been so consistent for us in terms of getting disruption up there in the middle of our defensive line, [which] has been such a key piece to what we do all season long. The ability to be available every single week, staying healthy, being as disruptive as he is, physical out of the stack. He fit right in with what we do right when he got here, so I’m not surprised at all at how he’s produced and been the player we need him to be.”

At least publicly, Hargrave’s teammates have said he hasn’t shared with them any trade secrets, including about stopping the Tush Push, but his familiarity adds another wrinkle to the game plan for Nick Sirianni, who, while trying to downplay last year’s matchup, praised his former defensive tackle.

“There are different players on this team; there are different players on their team,” he said. “Shoot, one of our better players from last year is on their team. So, this is about the 2023 Eagles versus the 2023 Niners. Both teams are doing well. It’s going to be a heck of a battle.”

Hargrave is looking forward to the “weird” challenge of going up against his old teammates and friends, especially the offensive line, against which he battled in practice for three seasons. But don’t plan on Hargrave being buddy-buddy with any of them this week.

“Nah, I’m not talking to them this week,” Hargrave said. “We can talk after the game.”