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The Eagles found a diamond in the rough, cut it, polished it, and now stand to lose it. They cannot let that happen.They must re-sign linebacker Zack Baun.
He’s far more important to the Eagles’ continued success than other pending free agents, such as defensive linemen Josh Sweat or Milton Williams and right guard Mekhi Becton. It might cost the Eagles more than whatever Baun’s market value turns out to be. It will certainly make the Eagles betray their DNA, since they consider linebackers slightly less valuable than security chief Big Dom DiSandro.
But Baun was the centerpiece of the best defense in the NFL, and the best defense the franchise has seen since Reggie and Clyde in 1991. Baun is in his prime. He’s far too good to lose.
The Eagles just got a boost from the NFL’s salary-cap formula, which is expected to jump more than $20 million, more than most expected. The Birds have no excuse. If possible, they should extend Baun before free agency begins March 10.
This is Howie Roseman’s toughest call in years.It is his Brian Dawkins moment.DawkIn the winter of 2008, after reaching the NFC championship game, the Eagles faced a difficult decision.
Star safety Brian Dawkins had just made his seventh Pro Bowl in 13 seasons, but he was a free agent who would be 36 in the middle of the 2009 campaign. The Eagles let him go.Quintin Mikell replaced Dawkins, and he went to the 2009 Pro Bowl and was a second-team All-Pro in 2010, but he was not Brian Dawkins, who went to two more Pro Bowls.
He wasn’t the same caliber leader, or hitter, or presence. And without him, Andy Reid’s Eagles didn’t win another playoff game.When team president Joe Banner left the Eagles four years later, he admitted, “It was a conspicuous moment that I did not handle the best I could have.
” Fairly or not, the moment tinged Banner’s legacy as the man who built the Eagles and created the modern template for running an NFL organization.Roseman, Banner’s chief protégé and now the team’s GM, follows that template. Roseman was working with the Eagles when Dawkins walked.
Will Roseman make the same mistake as his mentor?Apples-to-pomegranatesIt’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.Dawkins was an established star with a Hall of Fame track record, while Baun is a one-year wonder. Dawkins was entering the twilight of his career, while Baun, at 28, has just seen his star begin to rise.
And the divide between Dawkins and the Eagles was minor; the Eagles offered $5 million over two years, while the Broncos offered $7.5 million over two years.Now, Baun, who made $3.
75 million in 2024, isn’t likely to command the $100 million over five years being made by fellow All-Pros like Roquan Smith of the Ravens and Fred Warner of the 49ers. But he’s certainly going to make more than the two years and $20 million that some sites are projecting for him. My guess: He’ll see at least four years and $60 million, with $30 million guaranteed.
After all, the one-year franchise tag for Baun is expected to be around $27 million guaranteed, according to OverTheCap.com. The franchise tag period began Tuesday.
Banner and Dawkins weren’t discussing contracts in that stratosphere. So no, it’s not exactly the same situation, or apples-to-apples.It’s more like apples-to-pomegranates.
Like Dawkins, Baun plays a position the Eagles do not prioritize; in his case, inside linebacker. They occasionally will spend money on the positions, but the Eagles haven’t drafted a safety in the first two rounds since Jaiquawn Jarrett in 2011, and they haven’t drafted an inside linebacker since Matt McCoy in 2005.Like Dawkins, there is risk in allocating precious funds to a player who offers no guarantees.
In Dawkins’ case, the Eagles worried he was too old. In Baun’s case, they might worry that he was a one-year wonder. After all, he showed little of his all-around excellence in four seasons as a backup linebacker and a special-teams ace in New Orleans.
Further, there’s a chance that Baun’s effectiveness might have been the by-product of an elite defensive line and incredible defensive backs.And, like Dawkins, the 2025 edition of the defense should be very good. At least four of the five defensive backs will return, as will at least six of the nine top defensive linemen.
In 2009, the Eagles knew they would have players like Trent Cole, Asante Samuel, Stewart Bradley, and Juqua Parker returning.As it turned out, they didn’t have enough good players. All due respect to Dawk, they didn’t have a single player in 2009 or 2008 to compare with Baun in 2024.
Baun’s seasonWilliams will be overpaid, but that’s OK, since he’s been underpaid for two years. Becton will be massively overpaid, which is fine, but something the Eagles cannot afford to do with a player whose competence depended on the excellence of the players to his right and left. The player to his left, center Cam Jurgens, is eligible for an extension, and he’s far more important than Becton; spend that money there.
As for Sweat, he has improved as an every-down end, and he averaged almost eight sacks the last four years, and, while he’s been inconsistent, those 21⁄2 sacks of Patrick Mahomes will persuade somebody to give him three years and $60 million. It can’t be the Birds, who return Nolan Smith, Jalyx Hunt, and (fingers crossed) Bryce Huff.None of the pending free agents is remotely as valuable as Baun.
None played remotely as well.He ranked No. 1 in total defense among every-down inside linebackers, according to Pro Football Focus.
He ranked No. 1 in pass coverage, a serious weakness among Eagles linebackers for 20 years, dating back to Carlos Emmons. He ranked No.
6 against the run, which is astonishing for a player who has never been in the middle of the NFL’s trenches. He ranked No. 5 as a pass rusher, but then, he had 121⁄2 sacks in his senior season at Wisconsin, which was the main reason he went to the Saints in the third round instead of, say, the fifth.
Finally, and most important, Baun digested new coordinator Vic Fangio’s system faster than any other Eagle. He had two sacks and 15 tackles in his Eagles debut against the Packers. He had 13 more tackles two games later in New Orleans.
He forced five fumbles in the regular season, and he forced another in the playoffs, where he had two interceptions in four playoff games. By the end of the playoffs he’d taken more snaps than any other linebacker in the league, but he didn’t wear down. He got better every week.
Backing the ’backersIn 2024, Roseman diverged from his pattern regarding running backs when he gave Saquon Barkley three years and $37.75 million. Barkley repaid him with the best season any Eagle ever had.
Baun isn’t Barkley, but he’s too good to let go: “There are no limitations” to Baun’s capacity, Fangio said last month. Recent history should influence Roseman’s decision.The Eagles stood at a similar place after 2022, when they let middle linebacker T.
J. Edwards, a tackling machine who also played at Wisconsin, leave for Chicago. They paid for it.
The late-season collapse of 2023 was as much the fault of a bad group of linebackers as anything else.As the 2024 season approached, Roseman bolstered the unit by adding free agent Devin White, whom he wound up cutting after Baun and third-year man Nakobe Dean claimed the two spots. However, Dean is injured again, and his knee injury will cost him at least part of the 2025 season.
Journeyman backup Oren Burks replaced Dean, and might be re-signed to do so again. The Eagles hope rookie Jeremiah Trotter Jr. will one day fit in the middle like his daddy did.
That day is not today.To review: The Eagles have a chance to lock down one of the centerpieces of the best defense they’ve had in two generations.It’s the position on which, by rule, they least like to spend money or draft picks.
There’s an exception to every rule.Marcus Hayes is a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
