Over the last couple of weeks or so, we’ve be taking position-by-position looks at which players will likely be back with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2025, and which ones likely won’t. Today we’ll continue on with the linebackers.
Regarding the polls below, they are your votes on what you think the Eagles should do, not necessarily what you think they will do. Please think of them more as approval polls for each player.
Zack Baun
As you already saw on Wednesday, Howie Roseman couldn’t wait one more day and let me publish the linebackers edition of this series before he re-signed Baun to a three-year deal worth $51 million. But I promise you we had him as a stay.
Anyway, Baun went from a little-used edge rusher with the Saints to a bona fide star player with the Eagles as an off-ball linebacker. During the regular season, Baun finished with 151 tackles, 3.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, four pass breakups, and an INT. He was named First-Team All-Pro, Pro Bowler, and finished in the top five in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting.
During the playoffs, Baun turned his game up another notch as he led the NFL with 33 tackles and two INTs, and added a forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, and three pass breakups.
#JimmyVerdict: The Eagles had maybe the worst linebacker play of any team in the NFL in 2023. In 2024, their linebackers were among the best. Maybe Fangio’s scheme played a part in that, and maybe the Eagles could plug someone else in and they’d be fine. But to me, the big question is, why f*** around and risk finding out? Stay.
Do you want Zack Baun back on the Eagles’ 2025 roster?
Nakobe Dean
Dean had a breakout season in 2024, making 128 tackles, three sacks, a forced fumble, two recoveries, and a game-sealing INT Week 9 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
In the Eagles’ Wildcard Round win over the Packers, Dean tore a patellar tendon, which is an extremely serious injury, as our Evan Macy laid out back in January. That ended his season, and he will very likely miss time in 2025 as well.
#JimmyVerdict: Dean has one year left on his contract, and if he hadn’t suffered such a serious injury he would have been a candidate for an early contract extension. Instead, he’ll likely enter the 2025 season on the final year of his rookie deal. He’ll almost certainly begin training camp on the PUP list, which will likely carry over into the regular season. Still, he’ll be in the team’s plans for 2025, and could be a reinforcement at some point later in the season. Stay.
Do you want Nakobe Dean back on the Eagles’ 2025 roster?
Oren Burks
After missing a big chunk of training camp with a knee injury, Burks didn’t make the team’s initial 53-man roster, but was added to it before Week 1. He would find a role as a core special teamer and the first linebacker off the bench.
During the regular season, Burks had 41 tackles, 25 of which came in a pair of starts to close the season against the Cowboys and Giants.
After Dean went down with his patellar tendon tear, Burks entered the starting lineup and the Eagles’ defense didn’t miss a beat. In four playoff games (three starts), Burks had 25 tackles, a sack, and two huge forced fumbles, one on the opening kickoff against the Packers, and one on a Peanut Punch against the Commanders.
Burks is a free agent, and the Eagles would surely like to have him back, but will his playoff performance persuade a team to give him the opportunity to start, and money commensurate with that kind of role?
#JimmyVerdict: With the Eagles getting a deal done with Baun, Burks could be more inclined to look for more playing time elsewhere. Go.
Do you want Oren Burks back on the Eagles’ 2025 roster
Jeremiah Trotter, Jr.
Trotter played 110 snaps in the regular defense his rookie season, 53 of which came against the Giants Week 18. He had 11 tackles in that game.
The rest of Trotter’s snaps came in blowouts, as he was fourth in the linebacker pecking order behind Zack Baun, Nakobe Dean, and Oren Burks.
Trotter seemed poised to split snaps with Burks in the regular defense in the Divisional Round Game against the Rams, but Vic Fangio said afterward that Burks “was doing OK,” so he left well enough alone.
Trotter’s main contributions as a rookie came on special teams. He played 295 special teams snaps during the regular season, and 83 in the playoffs. His highlight of the season was wrestling the ball away from Keisean Nixon at the bottom of a pile in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Packers after a Burks forced fumble on a kickoff.
Throughout training camp and the preseason games, Trotter was around the ball quite a bit. His profile is similar to Dean’s, in that they’re both undersized linebackers who lack elite athleticism, but have plus instincts.
#JimmyVerdict: Trotter could have a chance to play in Dean’s role in 2025, as Dean is likely to miss at least part of the 2025 season with his torn patellar tendon. Stay.
Do you want Jeremiah Trotter, Jr. back on the Eagles’ 2025 roster?
Ben VanSumeren
VanSumeren was an undrafted rookie free agent in 2023 who did not make the initial 53-man roster, and who was thought of as more of an athlete than a football player in some scouting reports. He is one of the most athletic linebackers in the NFL, as he ran a 4.45 40 and vertical jumped 42.5″ at 231 pounds.
VanSumeren eventually worked his way onto the 53-man roster during the 2023 season and found a role as a regular on special teams, where his athleticism was often praised by special teams coordinator Michael Clay. But he also proved to be more than just an athlete, as he was one of the most physical defenders in training camp last summer, and also one of the most improved players. He was a no-brainer choice to make the 53-man roster.
He resumed his role as a core special teamer, and while he didn’t get on the field in the regular defense as a linebacker, he carved out a role on offense as a fullback, and he looked pretty good in that role.
Late in the season, VanSumeren suffered a still unknown knee injury. I asked him what it was at the Super Bowl media night, and he would only disclose that (a) it wasn’t an ACL tear, and (b) he’d be ready for the start of 2025 camp.
#JimmyVerdict: VanSumeren will very likely be back on the roster in 2025, and he is a sleeper pick to have an elevated role in the regular defense, while also maybe continuing to get sporadic chances to lead block for Saquon Barkley. Stay.
Do you want Ben VanSumeren back on the Eagles’ 2025 roster?
#JimmyVerdict Stay or Go Results
Green = Stay
Red = Go
Blue = Will be back in camp in 2025, but a 53-man roster spot is not a given.
Position 1 2 3 4 QB Jalen Hurts Kenny Pickett Tanner McKee RB Saquon Barkley Kenny Gainwell Will Shipley Khari Blasingame WR A.J. Brown DeVonta Smith Jahan Dotson Johnny Wilson WR (cont.)Britain Covey Parris Campbell Ainias Smith TE Dallas Goedert Grant Calcaterra E.J. Jenkins C.J. Uzomah OT Lane Johnson Jordan Mailata Fred Johnson Darian Kinnard OG Landon Dickerson Mekhi Becton Tyler Steen Trevor Keegan C Cam Jurgens Jack Driscoll Brett Toth Nick Gates ED Josh Sweat Nolan Smith Brandon Graham Jalyx Hunt ED (cont.) Bryce Huff Charles Harris iDL Jalen Carter Milton Williams Jordan Davis Moro Ojomo iDL (cont.) Thomas Booker Byron Young OBLB Zack Baun Nakobe Dean Oren Burks Jeremiah Trotter OBLB (cont.) Ben VanSumeren CB S K/P/LS
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