How Nakobe Dean's disappointing first two seasons shaped the player he's become

Watching him now, it’s easy to forget that things weren't always going so well for Nakobe Dean.

The Nakobe Dean we’ve seen these first 11 games of 2024 is an active, athletic, playmaking linebacker, a key starter on the NFL’s No. 1 defense. 

The Nakobe Dean of 2022 and 2023? 

As a rookie, Dean was a deep backup behind Kyzir White and T.J. Edwards on a Super Bowl team. He only played 34 defensive snaps all year, although he was one of Michael Clay’s key special teamers.

Last year, Dean won a starting spot but he hurt his foot in the third quarter of the season opener against the Patriots, missed four games and although he eventually came back to start four more games, he was never close to healthy and the Eagles finally shut him down for good halfway through the season.

As last year ended and the questions about his future increased, Dean told me on locker cleanout day that he was as confident as ever in his ability.

“I know who I am,” Dean said after undergoing foot surgery. “I know who I am, I ain't got it wrong. I know who I am. I'm confident in my game. I know the type of player I can be. I know the type of person I can be for this city.”

Nick Sirianni and Howie Roseman never wavered in their belief in Dean, despite two lost years to start his career, and Dean certainly never wavered in his belief in himself.

And now here we are.

What does Dean have to show for these first 11 games?

His nine tackles for loss are 13^th-most among all NFL linebackers, and he ranks 15^th with six quarterback hits and tied for 11^th with 3.0 sacks. And his 84.3 defensive passer rating ranks 10^th among 59 linebackers who’ve been targeted in coverage at least 20 times.

This is why you don’t make any judgments about players who really haven’t played yet.

“The first two years for me, they didn't go nearly like I hoped,” Dean said at his locker on Wednesday. “I mean, it's hard to say they didn't go as I hoped. I made it to the Super Bowl. I wasn't starting, but I made it to the Super Bowl.”

But when expectations are high and you’re not playing and outsiders are questioning everything you do, it isn’t easy.

“The last two years, it made me see how much I love the game and how fast it can be taken away from me,” said Dean, still only 23. “I learned a lot about myself as a man, as a football player. It made me do a lot of self-evaluation about what type of player I want to be. 

“And it also helped me mentally not care about what a lot of people have to say. I thought I didn’t care then, but I really don't care now because I got a lot of negative press just from not playing.

“As a rookie behind two good linebackers at the time and then me getting hurt last year. So it was like people are saying, ‘I don't even believe he can play in the league,’ but I hadn’t even gotten the chance yet.”

Dean has teamed up with newcomer Zack Baun to give the Eagles their best linebacker play in a generation, and together they’re part of a defense that’s allowed just 12.6 points and 222 yards per game during the seven-game winning streak.

Dean is the Eagles’ first homegrown linebacker to produce at this level since Jeremiah Trotter, whose son is one of Dean’s teammates. 

Watching him now making plays all over the field it seems crazy that there were so many questions about his future as recently as the end of last year.

“It was cool,” he said. “The last two years, it helped me build character and I'm just going to continue to use that as ammunition to continue to push and work and get better.

“It's not a primary, secondary or tertiary form of motivation, but it's something that I keep in the back of my mind. I’ve always had a chip on my shoulder, and it didn't do anything but add to the chip.”

It’s not like Dean didn’t encounter any hiccups this summer. 

He ran with the second team throughout training camp behind Devin White – remember Devin White? – and you would assume that was frustrating and challenging and maybe it was, but Dean doesn’t want to talk about it.

“I mean, I'm not looking back on that,” he said with a laugh. “We're going to stay right here.”

But Dean handled it like a pro. Just like he’s handled all the adversity that’s come his way since the Eagles drafted him out of Georgia in the third round in 2022.

If he’s ever complained or showed any frustration or felt sorry for himself, nobody’s seen it.

He's unfailingly positive and forward thinking, and nothing was going to shake his confidence in himself.

“I mean, there's only one way to handle it,” he said. “Well, there's a lot of ways to handle it, but there's only one right way if you ask me to handle it. And that's to do it your way.”

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