Eagles’ Star Linebacker Zack Baun Might Be A One-Hit Wonder In Philly

It would probably be a stretch to call Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Zack Baun the prodigal son but the former Saints not-so-special teamer returns to his old haunts as one of the biggest stars on a Philadelphia Eagles team that boasts the number one defense in the league and preparing to play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59.

More than 160 fellow free agents secured bigger contracts last offseason than the one Zack Baun signed with the Eagles and yet Baun is one of five finalists for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Baun had a standout career at Wisconsin, morphing into a star at outside linebacker. He racked up 12.5 sacks as a senior in 2019, to go along with 76 tackles and 19.5 tackles for loss. He was the first consensus All-American linebacker in program history. Baun himself had heard first-round buzz. Yet, as he watched the first and second rounds of the draft, he kept slipping. Again and again. 

That experience was a microcosm for his entire journey in football.  Baun had to stay patient and unemotional about his draft stock and learn how to fight through adversity that came with a career that didn’t always go according to plan.

“To stick it out through tough times, to keep my head high through tough times. I’m in the NFL, I’m [now] running for Defensive Player of the Year, but not everything has been sunshine and rainbows for me,” Baun said this past Monday night.

The biggest concern for NFL teams as he kept dropping on that draft night was what position he’d play in the NFL.  He was likely a better fit at inside linebacker than pass rusher in the pros, but it wasn’t a position he’d played in college.

“I think people thought he couldn’t play inside linebacker,” said Bobby April, his outside linebackers coach at Wisconsin, who is now coaching at Stanford. “He felt like he could.” 

Baun was an off-ball linebacker by trade, and he almost exclusively rushed the passer while in Madison. Wisconsin’s coaches gave him opportunities to play inside linebacker during spring practices, but still, NFL teams considering drafting him would have to imagine him doing something he had never done in games. “He was the best available guy on that list for a long time,” April said.

The Saints finally moved up 14 spots and selected Baun with the 74th pick in the third round back in 2020 but he wasn’t a very impactful linebacker in New Orleans, barely moving the needle in his four seasons there.  Baun played in 62 games and recorded just 88 tackles, two sacks and zero forced fumbles for the Saints. 

It would have been easy for Baun to sulk or to blame the Saints for his lack of playing time or development during his four years in New Orleans. Instead, he reflected about his own shortcomings as a Saint. “I had opportunities with the Saints, and a lot of that was on me. I just didn’t take advantage,” Baun said. “I didn’t truly know the meaning of what taking advantage of an opportunity was. Honestly, I blame a lot of that situation on me and not being able to progress.”

“Coming to Philly,” Baun continued, “I had a different perspective. I had gone through that, I had experienced that, and I knew what to do.”

The Eagles saw enough potential in the 27-year-old to sign him to a one-year contract on March 13, 2024, giving him the shot he desperately needed.

“When we signed Zack, I was extremely excited,” said Bobby King, the Eagles’ inside linebackers coach, who scouted Baun in 2020 when the coach was with the Texans.

He was right. “It was pretty obvious after a few weeks, like, this guy is a freaking player,” King said. “It’s going to work out.”

It turned out to be one of the most brilliant free agent signings last off-season. “Credit the kid. He obviously has God-given instincts that you can’t teach, and he’s got the body size and the movement already, and then with [Fangio’s] defense, it was just a nice fit,” King said. 

Baun was named a first-team All-Pro, is a finalist for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year award, and was voted into his first Pro Bowl. “He had to pay his dues,” April said. “It’s who he is: silently proving people wrong.”

“I’m just glad that Philadelphia liked what they saw from him in college,” said April. “And now Zack’s paying them back for believing in him.”

“We signed him in the first five minutes of free agency,”  Roseman said last Monday.  “He was a priority. We wanted to make him feel like a priority, so he would come here.”

The feel-good scheme worked. Baun quickly signed the one-year deal worth $3.5 million and he became one of the best linebackers in the league.  Eagles’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio moved Baun from outside linebacker to the inside and it worked too,  Baun amassed 151 tackles, 3.5 sacks and five forced fumbles in 16 games for the Birds this season.

“We did a lot of work on him in the draft and you can see his versatility,” Roseman said. 

“Everyone wants to be wanted in some capacity,” Baun said. “That was the Eagles for me. Vic had a plan for me from the start….I was never frustrated,” Baun said. “Partially because that’s on me. My slow development and transition from position to position. But I just trusted the process.”

If Saquon looks like the biggest and best free agent signings in NFL history, Baun, 28, looks like the NFL’s best bargain last off-season thanks in part to defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s vision and decision to turn Baun into a full-time inside linebacker instead of a part-time edge rusher.

“They had a vision for me,” said Baun Monday night. “(Its) an opportunity, and that’s all that I wanted. Nobody told me I was a starter. I wasn’t given anything. I had to work for my spot, and I didn’t care if it was inside or outside.”

Baun added another forced fumble and fumble recovery when the Eagles defeated the Commanders in the NFC Championship game. 

His knack for being nosy around the ball has helped the Eagles go from the 30th ranked defense in the league last season to the top ranked overall defense in the league, which is one of the biggest reasons that his Birds are getting set to play the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl 59.

Baun collected his first piece of hardware for his breakthrough season last week, when his fellow linebackers surprised him with the Butkus Award for the NFL’s best linebacker at a small dinner while earning his spot  earned next to T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett  on the Defensive Player of the Year podium.

“It’s really cool to be even mentioned with those guys,” Baun said. “It’s a credit to a lot of people … I couldn’t do it without. But its only going to be special if we win it all.”

Baun will always be remembered in Philadelphia as the centerpiece and leader of that Eagles’ defense that went from 30th to 1st in just one year and helped land the Birds’ a berth in Super Bowl 59.

Unfortunately Baun might also be remembered as a one hit wonder in Philadelphia.  He’s spent the last five years in the league earning rookie money.  Well all that is about to change because when the former Wisconsin Badger hits the free agent market again next month as Pro Football Focus projects Baun to land a serious payday on a three-year, $39 million contract, and paying a linebacker that kind of coin usually isn’t part of the Eagles’ business model.

 

 

 

 

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