November 20, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) reacts against the Detroit Lions during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field.
Psssst. You wanna see Nakobe Dean nuke somebody?
Of course you do.
Take a look.
Yup, that's absolutely Dean on Sunday night, blowing up Lions RB David Montgomery on his way to sacking QB Jared Goff on 2nd-and-10 in the fourth quarter of a 16-9 win.
Montgomery is 230 pounds and one of the NFL's best RBs in pass pro. He properly read that Dean would be an unblocked defender, stepped in to block the charging Dean, and still got trucked by the fourth-year Eagles linebacker, who simultaneously knocked Goff to the ground for a timely sack.
The best part?
It was the second time in a five-day span that he did it.
On Monday night, he rag-dolled Green Bay's Josh Jacobs, another strong, sturdy running back often asked to stay in for pass protection, before dropping Packers QB Jordan Love.
See for yourself.
For some reason, Jacobs' first move was to pick up the edge rusher Jalxy Hunt (58) even though his left tackle already had the assignment, but Jacobs quickly maneuvered to get square with the blitzing Dean. It still didn't work.
Jacobs still got blown up and discarded as Dean finished off the play with a sack.
Much of the Eagles' recent success on defense, and more specifically in the pass rush, is attributed the trade for EDGE Jaelan Phillips, and deservedly so. Phillips already has a sack and four QB hits in his two games with the Eagles.
But the reintroduction of Dean into the defense has been equally impactful, and it can be argued that he's been the team's most impactful pass rusher, or at very least second-best behind Phillips.
Coming off a major knee surgery that delayed his season debut to Week 8, Dean has played about 67% of the snaps in each of the past two games, as he still rotates with rookie LB Jihaad Campbell. He has been used as an extra-man rusher in defensive coordinator Vic Fangio's blitzes and as the fourth rusher in a four-man exchange rush that drops an edge defender into coverage while a second-level defender (usually Dean) blitzes.
Dean has rushed the passer nine times over the past two games, and generated pressure on four of them, a win rate of nearly 45 percent. In Week 11, he tied for second for the NFL's highest pass-rush win rate (50%) for anyone who rushed the passer at least five times.
The ability to get downhill quickly, channel speed to power, and either maneuver around or outright blow up blocks has been Dean's strength since his standout Georgia days, when he was a major piece of the vaunted Bulldog pass rush. He entered the NFL as an Eagles third-round pick with a reputation for being better in the pass rush than in coverage.
Amazingly, Dean appears to be as physically dominant this season as he was before tearing his patellar tendon last year in an NFC Wild Card game against the Packers, an injury that has an an excruciating rehab and is still considered to be one of the toughest to come back from.
Although he returned Week 6 against the Giants, playing mostly special teams, Dean didn't play more than 45% of the defense until Week 8 against the Giants, when he played 64%. His snap share jumped to 67% in Week 10 against the Packers coming out of the bye and stayed there against the Lions.
One of the major changes to Fangio's defense since the bye has been fewer blitzes, as the veteran coordinator has leaned much heavier on four-man rushes to get the job done.
Fangio called the fewest blitzes of any NFL team Week 10 against the Packers and only blitzed 12.8% percent against the Lions, the NFL's fourth-lowest percentage of the week. Dean has been one of the biggest reasons why Fangio has scaled back.
Dean isn't just powering through running backs, either. Even some of the NFL's better offensive linemen have felt the wrath of Dean's quarterback pursuits.
On this pressure against the Lions, Dean and linebacker Zack Baun executed a cross-dog blitz that led to Dean breezing past Lions C Graham Glasgow and hurrying Goff into an incompletion:
Against the Packers, Dean showed his combo of strength, power and pursuit on this four-man rush.
He just manhandled LG Aaron Banks, fighting past the initial contact and driving through the block to force Love off his spot. Dean then executed an impressive 180-degree pivot to track down Love from behind for a sack.
With another prolific offense up next, a Cowboys team that's scored the NFL's most points, look for Fangio to keep using Dean in pressure situations.
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