Linebacker Position Is No Longer A Concern For Eagles

The two third-round draft picks have come nicely into their own and could grow together for years to come if Howie Roseman can take care of business.

Nov 3, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) celebrates his interception with linebacker Zack Baun (53) in the end zone during the fourth quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

What was viewed as a potential weakness, or at least an area of unknown, heading into the Eagles’ season was the linebacker position. Not anymore, not with the way Zack Baun and Nakobe Dean have stepped up.

It has taken them a couple of years to find their stride, but now that they have, they don’t appear to be slowing down. Quite the contrary. Both are speeding up and could make their first Pro Bowls. Pro Football Focus graded them their top two linebackers in Week 8 and Week 9.

Even more importantly, they have been big parts to a defense that, as expected, as taken some games to jell.

In the Eagles last two Super Bowl trips, their linebacker play was stellar. In 2017, the year they won the championship, it was Nigel Bradham and Mychal Kendricks. In 2002, it was T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White.

White was signed to a one-year deal that year and then left in free agency. Baun is also on a one-year deal, so it might behoove GM Howie Roseman to extend him sooner rather than later instead of letting him walk out the door.

Maybe Roseman will if he hears what Dean said in the aftermath of the Eagles’ fourth straight win that pushed them to 6-2.

“The longer the season goes and the more we play together we become more than teammates,” said Dean. “You feel like you’re playing with a brother, playing with a good friend out there. The more and more we play the more and more we kind of work off each other, kind of learn each other tendencies and what each other likes and what we don’t like.”

Nov 3, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) intercepts pass in the end against Jacksonville Jaguars running back D'Ernest Johnson (2) during the fourth quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Both players were drafted in the third round – Baun by the New Orleans Saints in 2020 and Dean by the Eagles in 2022.

“I think the moment we drafted Nakobe the excitement was there,” said head coach Nick Sirianni. “I remember coming down with you guys in there and I was yelling about how excited we were. And it's been a long road.

“He's had to battle - one, he was behind two really good players when he was a rookie (Edwards and White), and he played on special teams. And then last year, he had an injury that sidelined him. I think we've all just had a ton of confidence in Nakobe and he continues to get better.”

Sirianni said that there are nights Dean is still watching film as the coach is leaving the building.

“There isn't a night that he's not in there just grinding,” said Sirianni. “I think one thing that makes him special is his mind and leadership. He's constantly working on that. …He has a special work ethic, which allows him to make special plays like he did (Sunday).”

Dean has 60 tackles and two sacks this season. In his first two years, he had a total of 43 tackles and a half-sack.

Baun was primarily a special team player with the Saints and he had 86 tackles with two sacks and one interception in his previous four years. This season, he already has 79 tackles with two sacks and one pick.

He and Baun both got an interception against the Jaguars, which was the first time the Eagles had a pair of linebackers do that since Sept. 3, 2000, when Jeremiah Trotter and Carlos Emmons did it against the Cowboys.

Baun’s required a full-out stretch to catch a deflect pass.

“He's just a really good athlete,” said Sirianni of Baun. “I know he was a great special teams player for the Saints and did some of the things that we're doing with him now, but he's such a good athlete that he gets guys down in the open field. He makes great tackles. Now he's taking the ball away. And with special plays. That catch was a really good catch.”

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