Eagles Linebacker Talks Contract, Focused On Players Returning, Not Those Leaving

The Philadelphia Eagles signed their top free-agent priority before the market opened, and, it turned out, the linebacker never wanted to leave in the first place.

Eagles linebacker Zack Baun meets with reporters for the first time since signing a three-year, $51 million deal to remain in Philadelphia. / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Zack Baun never wanted to leave. In the days after the Eagles hoisted the Lombardi Trophy last month, he said he was curious to see what free agency would bring.

If that was a negotiating ploy, then, wow, it worked like a charm. The Eagles brought him back on a three-year deal for $17 million per season. He was Howie Roseman’s number one priority this offseason, and the general manager swooped in before free agency opened, and Baun didn’t sound like his words were meant to earn more money when he talked on a video call Wednesday afternoon.

“I really actually didn’t want to leave,” he said. “What we built here, the culture here. Honestly, now that I’m thinking about it, I was just a piece of the puzzle that was put into a great culture that was already established.

“The people that work here, the system’s in place. Just everything I felt here this past year. It just felt right for me and my family. I really didn’t want to leave, and I appreciated everything we built.”

Baun never had any assurances that he would return, but he said his communications with Roseman during the season were always positive.

“It was all year long (that) he constantly reassured me, not necessarily that I’d be back, but he was very thankful for the things I was doing, and my play on the field,” said the All Pro linebacker and finalist for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year.

“After the season, there was a lot of back and forth between my agent, just hoping to get something done as soon as possible. I’m happy we did, and that I didn’t have to go through free agency and see what that was like.”

So Baun is back. A lot of his defensive teammates are not, such as Milton Williams, Josh Sweat, Oren Burks, Darisu Slay, and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Baun said he is focused on what pieces on the league’s top-ranked defense will return, not on the ones who got away.

“I think the biggest part is the pieces we have in the building,” he said. “That’s a credit to Howie and those guys upstairs of building a solid foundation of a base of a team where you can have guys leave in free agency, and still have a solid base there.

“I’m really excited for the pieces we have. I’m very excited for the guys who left as well. Very happy for them. But I’m excited for this new look of a team, and this new look of a defense, especially with the pieces we have.”

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