Eagles' LB Excited For The Pads To Come On

Nakobe Dean believes he will stand out when things get more physical.

Eagles LB Nakobe Dean / John McMullen/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA - Eagles third-year linebacker Nakobe Dean has been champing at the bit for Tuesday.

That’s when the pads finally come on for the Eagles.

“Nakobe came back in great shape,” head coach Nick Sirianni said at the start of camp. “Worked his butt off. He said to me [on the eve of the first practice], ‘Are we putting the pads on tomorrow?’ when I walked past him. 

“I know he's ready. I know he’s ready mentally, I know he’s ready physically. I'm excited to see him.”

The minutia of CBA isn’t at the top of most players’ lists and teams aren’t even allowed to put on the pads until the end of the collectively bargained acclimation period.

For Dean, it’s a long time coming after he was shut down in early November of last season after a second foot injury that ultimately limited him to just five games last season.

The 2022 third-round pick underwent Lisfranc surgery and wasn’t fully cleared until minicamp back in early June.

“Idon’t know if you know, but I didn’t get cleared until the last week of minicamp,” Dean said after practice Monday. “So after that, in the summertime, it was just kind of pushing myself to get ready because I didn’t have that real offseason to push myself to get into that (top) shape. 

“So the six weeks in the summer is when I did it.”

Dean arrived at camp in a different position, though, and no longer the default setting at LB. 

That’s been free-agent acquisition Devon White, who has taken the majority of the first-team reps with Zack Baun, another free-agent signing.

Dean, though, keeps mixing in with the ones more and more. On Monday he took the first-team reps in 7-on-7 next to White.

“For me, when I came in trying to learn the scheme, it was me learning both linebacker positions,” Dean said. “If I’m in and they tell me I’m playing MIKE today, cool. If they tell me I’m dime, cool … It’s not doing anything but helping me become a better linebacker, and helping me understand the scheme better.”

Now, on the eve of pad day, Dean is ready to re-stake his claim as the Eagles’ top linebacker.

“I’m glad that we’re getting pads tomorrow because this T-shirt and shorts is cute,” Dean said. “But we play football in pads, and we get in pads tomorrow. So I feel like the intensity [will be ramped up].”

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