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Zack Baun

Eagles To Re-Sign LB Zack Baun

March 5th, 2025 at 1:46pm CST by Sam Robinson

Submitting one of this decade’s premier contract years, Zack Baun moved the needle in a big way toward the Eagles’ second Super Bowl championship. The Eagles are not letting the veteran linebacker return to free agency.

Baun was set to join other Eagles starters on the market, but a Wednesday payday will instead come to pass. The Eagles are keeping Baun on a three-year, $51MM deal, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. Baun will have two fully guaranteed years on this contract, as Schefter adds $34MM will be locked in at signing.

The Eagles had expressed interest in keeping Baun, who in turn wanted to stay with the team he just helped to a dominant Super Bowl win. Baun will take himself off the market, with the two fully guaranteed years doing well to convince the ex-Saints draftee to pass on a second free agency go-round. Baun played a central role in the Eagles’ latest championship, and he has scored a top-market ILB deal as a result.

At $17MM per year, Baun becomes the fourth-highest-paid off-ball linebacker. He sits behind fellow first-team All-Pros Roquan Smith and Fred Warner and Bears 2023 signee Tremaine Edmunds. Baun, however, lands his contract at an older age than that trio did. Baun turned 28 late last year. The Eagles are willing to invest in his late 20s, at the very least, before reassessing. The former third-round pick gave the defending champs plenty of reason to do so.

Baun went from researching special-teamer contracts as comps to being a first-team All-Pro. The Wisconsin alum totaled 151 tackles – a cool 121 more than his previous career high – and added 3.5 sacks, five forced fumbles and 11 TFLs. Baun’s five fumbles forced were second in the NFL, and his diving Super Bowl LIX interception effectively ensured viewers needed to brace for a blowout. Baun’s 2024 goes in the contract-year hall of fame.

This agreement comes a day after the Eagles extended Saquon Barkley, who was already under contract through 2026. The superstar running back received a significant guarantee bump after soaring past 2,000 yards. Baun did not enjoy quite that productive of a season, but his breakthrough was more surprising. This continues Howie Roseman‘s recent zags when it comes to these positions, as the Eagles had gone a while since paying a running back and a linebacker before Barkley and Baun’s arrivals.

The Eagles’ 2024 free agent class, thanks largely to these two, probably goes down as an all-timer. The team must decide on 2024 bargain buy Mekhi Becton soon, but this Baun agreement — coupled with the team already having four well-paid offensive linemen — points the mammoth guard to the market.

Two other Eagles Super Bowl standouts — Josh Sweat and Milton Williams — are en route to free agency. It would seem the Eagles made Baun the top priority here. They are not expected to retain Sweat, and Williams — with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis rostered — will probably fetch a better offer elsewhere. But the Eagles will still ensure some front-seven continuity in Baun, who will help as Nakobe Dean is likely to miss time in 2025.

Eagles Want To Re-Sign Zack Baun

February 26th, 2025 at 11:50am CST by Nikhil Mehta

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said that the team will make a “concerted effort” to re-sign linebacker Zack Baun, per PHLY’s Zach Berman.

Baun broke out in Philadelphia last season after four inconsistent years in New Orleans to start his career. The 2020 third-rounder struggled to find a role in the Saints defense, but he was a perfect fit in Vic Fangio‘s scheme in 2024. Baun led the Eagles with 153 total tackles (sixth-most league-wide) and earned a 90.1 grade from Pro Football Focus (subscription required) that led all linebackers.

Baun far outplayed his one-year, $3.5MM contract last year. After proving himself with first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors – not to mention a fifth-place finish in Defensive Player of the Year voting – the former Wisconsin Badger will be looking to cash in on his next contract. However, he is 28 years old with just one elite season under his belt, which could limit his value, especially in terms of guaranteed money.

Baun has expressed a desire to stay with the Eagles, who are no stranger to paying premium talent at top-of-the-market rates. Their contract structures would easily allow them to re-sign Baun, who could command more $15MM per year on a new deal.

The Eagles do have a few other starters slated to hit free agency, including Mekhi Becton, Josh Sweat, and Milton Williams. The team has been proactive with extensions in recent years, but didn’t reach any long-term agreements during the 2024 season. With several players putting up strong seasons on the way to Philadelphia’s Super Bowl victory, it will be difficult to retain them all.

“We didn’t do any deals during the season, which probably could have prevented some of these problems, but we just didn’t feel like the timing was right,” said Roseman.

It’s not easy to find elite middle linebacker play in the NFL. Given Baun’s ascension in Philadelphia, both sides should be properly motivated to continue their partnership into 2025 and beyond.

Zack Baun Wants To Stay With Eagles; Milton Williams Addresses Free Agency

February 13th, 2025 at 9:59pm CST by Sam Robinson

The inside linebacker market has stagnated a bit since Fred Warner and Shaquille Leonard‘s paydays in 2021. Only one player — Roquan Smith — has since eclipsed those deals, and the market saw two of its top AAVs (C.J. Mosley and Foyesade Oluokun) drop due to extensions that brought pay cuts last year.

This year’s free agency period is unlikely to feature any true threats to eclipse Smith, but one ILB transformed his market thanks to a 2024 breakthrough. Zack Baun went from a largely unproductive edge rusher — and a player who researched special-teamers’ deals as comps going into free agency last year — to a first-team All-Pro. Baun almost completed the inverse of the Haason Reddick emergence, as the former Eagle revitalized his career after being moved from ILB to an edge role.

[RELATED: Eagles Win Super Bowl LIX]

Baun finished the season with 151 tackles, five forced fumbles and 3.5 sacks. He added a regular-season INT and a pivotal Super Bowl LIX pick, which set up the Eagles deep in Chiefs territory ahead of a second-quarter touchdown. Baun’s breakout year will generate an interesting market, as he is 28 and has no prior history of consistent play. This could make some teams hesitant, but Baun certainly proved he fits in Vic Fangio‘s scheme. And he would like to continue developing in Philadelphia.

“I’m curious. I don’t know what it’ll look like, honestly,” Baun said of his second crack at free agency (via PHLY’s Zach Berman). “…Hopefully it’s here. I love this place. I appreciate what they’ve done for my career and my family — just everything. I got a lot of options to weigh.”

The Eagles have some important defensive pieces nearing the market. Josh Sweat is chief among them, with Milton Williams also out of contract. Mekhi Becton joins Baun in being interested in staying with the Eagles, who saw both bargain-bin 2024 FA signings raise their values in helping Philly to its second Super Bowl championship. While Becton plays a higher-valued position, Baun was one of the NFL’s best defenders last season, getting there on a $3.5MM contract. He will be looking for a significant raise soon.

Last year’s market saw two eight-figure-per-year free agent ILB contracts handed out. The Texans gave Azeez Al-Shaair a three-year, $34MM deal; the Steelers signed off on a three-year, $41MM Patrick Queen pact. These contracts respectively check fifth and seventh among off-ball LBs. Considering Baun is 28 and just put together a first-team All-Pro season to help a team to a championship, it would seem reasonable he could target that price range.

Philly is projected to hold more than $18MM in cap space, a mid-pack number three-plus weeks ahead of the 2025 league year. The team’s creative 2024 maneuvering on offense showed an ability to afford a number of pricey extensions, as void years and option bonuses flood Howie Roseman‘s payroll. If the Eagles lose Baun, they would have a glaring need at linebacker thanks to Nakobe Dean having suffered a patellar tendon tear in the wild-card round. The team has not devoted much in the way of funds to this position in recent years, but Dean’s latest injury provides a complication.

Williams mentioned (via Berman) a desire to stay in a winning situation. That is often not prioritized by players seeking second contracts, as this window represents a key opportunity to cash in. The Eagles also have both Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis signed for multiple additional seasons, should the team pick up Davis’ fifth-year option by May. Williams could be an odd man out, as the Eagles figure to be saving up to extend the Georgia alums down the line. This could certainly mean Williams’ best offers will come from other teams, and the four-year veteran did add he would want “a situation to as close as this as possible.”

More than two years younger than Baun, Williams will be 26 by Week 1 of next season. He finished his contract year with career-high marks in sacks (five) and QB hits (10). Pass rush win rate slotted the former third-round pick sixth among interior D-linemen, who added two sacks and a forced fumble in Super Bowl LIX. Like Sweat, Baun and Becton, Williams made some money this past season.

Elsewhere on the Super Bowl champions’ roster, Landon Dickerson is likely to undergo knee surgery (via the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane). The Pro Bowl guard left the NFC championship game with a left knee malady and played through it in the Super Bowl. The Eagles have the All-Pro guard signed to a position-record $21MM-per-year deal.

Eagles Place Nakobe Dean On IR, Bring Back Nicholas Morrow

January 14th, 2025 at 7:23pm CST by Sam Robinson

A few teams have turned to Nicholas Morrow as a regular starter, but the veteran linebacker has been unable to secure much in the way of financial commitments in free agency. He has spent most of this season with the Bills as a backup, before being waived earlier this month.

Nakobe Dean‘s season-ending injury will earn Morrow another opportunity, marking a familiar development. The Eagles are bringing Morrow back, per NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo. Dean 2023 injuries kept Morrow with a regular role in Philly, and the team will turn to familiarity late in the season. This is a practice squad deal.

The Eagles placed Dean on IR after he suffered a torn patellar tendon during the Packers game; that malady may well lead to Dean missing time to start the 2025 season. Dean battled multiple foot ailments in 2023, leading to two IR stints and only five games played. After the Eagles stashed Dean as a backup during their NFC championship season in 2022, injuries are otherwise defining the former third-rounder’s rookie contract. Dean finishes this season with 128 tackles and three sacks; Pro Football Focus ranked him 12th among off-ball linebackers.

Dean has not been the Eagles’ top LB success story this year; that honor goes to Zack Baun, who morphed from a player who researched recent special teams contracts (via Yahoo.com’s Jori Epstein) into a first-team All-Pro. The Eagles initially viewed Baun as a rotational edge rusher, per ESPN.com’s Tim McManus, but he has boosted his value tremendously as a traditional off-ball LB this season. The former Saints third-rounder will be counted on as the Eagles attempt to book a second Super Bowl berth in three seasons.

Morrow initially caught on with the Eagles after a full-season run as a Bears starter, but that season only fetched a one-year, $1.2MM deal. Philly had viewed Morrow as a potential starter heading into their 2023 camp but then cut him weeks later. Morrow resurfaced on Philly’s P-squad that September and became Dean’s primary replacement soon after. Last season, Morrow started 12 games and made 95 tackles — a career-high 12 for loss — but the Eagles changed up at linebacker this past offseason to lead him to Buffalo. The Division III success story, who has made 58 career starts, played in 11 Bills games as a backup.

The Eagles also moved Parris Campbell back to their 53-man roster to take Dean’s place and added wide receiver Elijah Cooks to their practice squad. The team released wideout Joseph Ngata from its taxi squad.

Eagles LB Devin White On Track For Starting Role?

July 1st, 2024 at 3:11pm CST by Adam La Rose

Linebacker was a position of weakness for the Eagles last season, with Zach Cunningham and Nicholas Morrow spending much of the year in a starter’s role. The position will look different in 2024, in large part due to the addition of Devin White. 

The former Buccaneers top-five pick was connected to a trade request stemming from his desire for a market-topping extension. The 2023 campaign did not go according to plan for him, though, and his free agent value suffered considerably. White took a one-year deal with the Eagles which carries a base value of $4MM.

Reaching incentives on the pact will allow the 26-year-old to earn up to $3.5MM extra, and seeing a notable role on defense will obviously play a key role in that. White operated as a starter during spring workouts, as noted by Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. He did so alongside Zack Baun, another free agent signing. The former Saint made 62 appearances and 14 starts across the past four years.

White’s Buccaneers tenure included a Super Bowl victory in 2020 and a Pro Bowl nod the following year. The LSU product has frequently filled the statsheet, racking up 566 tackles and 23 sacks in five Tampa Bay seasons. Issues related to coverage and inconsistent play led to him losing his starting job to K.J. Britt down the stretch last season, and as a result it came as no surprise when he departed on the open market. White’s play in Philadelphia will play a key role in determining his value on a new Eagles pact or one sending him to a third team.

Of course, the fact that White and Baun logged starter’s reps in the spring means highly-touted 2022 draftee Nakobe Dean has ground to make up during training camp. The latter was a central figure in Georgia’s national title-winning teams, but he hardly saw any defensive usage as a rookie. Things changed last season when Dean started four games until injuries limited him to only five appearances. The 23-year-old has two years remaining on his rookie contract and his workload in 2024 could be tied to how White and Baun perform in padded practices once training camp opens.

Minor NFL Transactions: 3/11/24

March 11th, 2024 at 10:51pm CST by Ely Allen

On the busiest transaction day of the NFL year, here are a few moves that maybe didn’t make the headlines:

Atlanta Falcons

Baltimore Ravens

Buffalo Bills

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Woerner is probably one of the bigger names on this list. After serving as a reliable run-blocking tight end with the 49ers for the duration of his rookie contract, Woerner earns a new three-year deal worth up to $12MM to head to Atlanta, according to ESPN’s Michael Rothstein.

Brandel may be the next biggest deal on this list. After making five starts in 39 game appearances with the Vikings during his rookie deal, Brandel earned a new three-year, $9.5MM contract to remain in Minnesota. Quessenberry joins him as a depth lineman sticking around.

Lewis also gets to stick around on a multi-year deal, signing a two-year, $4MM deal to remain in Buffalo. A valuable special teamer, Lewis has done a good job of getting himself worked into the rotation on defense a good amount over the course of his rookie deal.

Olszewski earns another year in New York after solving a big issue on punt returns for the Giants last year. Baun heads to Philadelphia as a strong backup after starting 14 games for the Saints during his first four years in the league.

Saints Activate C Erik McCoy, LB Chase Hansen

December 17th, 2022 at 9:57pm CST by Adam La Rose

In a move foreshadowed earlier in the week, the Saints have brought back a key member of their offensive line. The team announced on Saturday that center Erik McCoy has been activated from IR.

The 25-year-old was designated for return on Wednesday, opening his 21-day activation window. He had missed the past four games, as required by injured reserve rules, but a return to action along this timeline is encouraging for his health outlook down the stretch. The same holds true of linebacker Chase Hansen, who has played exclusively on special teams to date.

With McCoy back in the fold, New Orleans will once again have their full-time starter in the middle of their o-line. McCoy played every snap of the 2022 season before going down in Week 9 with a calf injury. He dealt with a similar issue the year before, which caused him to miss games for the first time in his four-year career. The former second-rounder graded out in the top-five amongst all centers as a rookie, earning a 78.0 rating from PFF. 2022 has, however, continued his emerging trend of grades in the mid-60s, which have placed him mid-pack at the position.

The move will allow Cesar Ruiz to return to his usual right guard spot. That should help the team’s offensive front in their attempts to improve on the ground during their late-season playoff push. The Saints rank 21st in rushing yards per game with 110, and sit 28th with an average time of possession of 29 minutes. Improvement in those areas could spark a December turnaround and keep the team in contention for the NFC South title.

In a corresponding roster move, New Orleans placed linebacker Zack Baun on IR. The 2020 third-rounder has, similarly to Hansen, been used on special teams far more than defense. The former will now miss the remainder of the regular season after being sidelined for just one contest over the course of his first two years in the league. Hansen will likely re-take a significant third phase role in his absence, beginning on Sunday for New Orleans’ divisional contest against the Falcons.

Saints Notes: Winston, Sherman, Baun

July 4th, 2021 at 11:57am CST by Rory Parks

The biggest question facing the Saints this offseason is whether Jameis Winston or Taysom Hill will be the team’s starting QB come Week 1. Mike Triplett of ESPN.com believes Winston may be the frontrunner given that he is younger and has more upside, but the turnover and accuracy problems he had as a member of the Buccaneers are still major issues that he will need to clean up.

Of course, the club has been publicly complimentary of both players, and it was Hill — who also offers dynamic ability as a runner — who got the nod during Drew Brees‘ injury-related absence last year. Hill and Winston will be eligible for free agency following the 2021 campaign, so in addition to the starting gig, there is a lot of money riding on the outcome of this battle.

New Orleans selected former Notre Dame passer Ian Book in the fourth round of this year’s draft, and Book will learn behind Winston and Hill before perhaps getting a chance to throw his hat in the ring in 2022.

Now for more from the Big Easy:

  • The Saints’ record-setting extension for RT Ryan Ramczyk cleared about $5.5MM off their books, leaving them with $10-11MM of cap space. That number could increase if the club extends franchise-tagged safety Marcus Williams, a proposition that we recently discussed. Triplett believes New Orleans will put that money to use by signing a veteran or two, and he suggests that a big name like corner Richard Sherman — who has been connected to the team this offseason — remains a possibility.
  • GM Mickey Loomis is often credited as the man behind the Saints’ aggressive manipulation of the salary cap, and while Loomis has final say over the club’s transactions, Triplett also shines a light on a less recognizable member of the New Orleans front office. In examining the team’s use of backloaded contracts, restructures, and void years, Triplett describes vice president of football administration Khai Harley as one of the most innovative pioneers of those types of cap machinations, and he suggests that Harley could become a GM candidate in the future.
  • Linebacker Zack Baun, who generated some first-round buzz in the 2020 draft before ultimately falling to the third round, played in just 82 defensive snaps in his rookie season. But a hamstring injury suffered in training camp and the lack of a true offseason program hindered his development, and he will have the opportunity to make a bigger impact in 2021. As Sam Shannon of the team’s official website writes, Baun is transitioning from strongside linebacker to the weakside, which will require him to perform well in coverage. His projected ability to thrive in space is what led the Saints to draft him in the first place, and he will compete with second-round rookie Pete Werner for snaps alongside middle linebacker Demario Davis.

Browns Trade Pick No. 74 To Saints, New Orleans Takes Zack Baun

April 24th, 2020 at 9:08pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Saints reportedly were looking to trade up in the second-round, and they just moved up in the third. They’ve acquired the 74th pick from the Browns, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets.

Cleveland is also sending the 244th pick in the seventh-round, while they’ll get back number 88 and a 2021 third-rounder. As Yates notes in his tweet, this is the first time in this draft that a 2021 selection has changed hands. New Orleans’ willingness to give up future draft capital makes sense, given they’ve been heavily signaling that they’re going all in on one last Super Bowl run with Drew Brees in 2020.

They’ve signed some aging vets, and are trying to get as much out of this draft as possible. The Saints used the 74th pick to take linebacker Zack Baun from Wisconsin, who some thought had a good chance of getting drafted in the first-round. Linebacker had been a relative position of weakness for New Orleans, which explains why they wanted to move up to get the surprising faller. As a senior with the Badgers Baun had 19.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks, earning first-team All-Big 10 honors.

LB Zack Baun Submitted Diluted Sample

April 14th, 2020 at 1:22pm CST by Sam Robinson

One of the top linebackers in this year’s draft, Zack Baun received word he tested positive for a diluted urine sample at the Combine, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (on Twitter).

The Wisconsin alum notified all 32 teams of this, blaming the positive drug test on drinking too much water in advance of his weigh-in, Schefter adds. Under the NFL’s new PED policy, Baun will not enter the NFL with a strike against him. Teams do not believe this will affect his draft status much, Schefter tweets. Baun rates as Mel Kiper Jr.’s No. 3 linebacker going into the draft.

This happened to a Big Ten defender three years ago at the Combine as well; Jabrill Peppers tested positive for a diluted sample and also blamed it on water intake. He was not suspended to begin his career and went in the first round. The Michigan product did, however, enter the NFL with a drug-related strike against him.

Baun weighed in at 238 pounds at the Combine, coming in on the slightly lighter end of the spectrum for his position. The ex-Badger broke out in 2019, registering 12.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss en route to second-team All-American acclaim. He’d collected just 2.5 sacks in his college career going into last season. He is expected to go off the board in the first or second round next week.