Philly Leader

Sunday's victory over the Green Bay Packers was marred by an injury to Nakobe Dean, a promising third-year linebacker. Dean sustained a knee injury that will prevent him from participating in the rest of the postseason.

"Nakobe's had a great year. As you guys saw the reports, he's going to be out and we sure will miss him. He's made big plays all year long. The one that comes to everyone's mind is going to be the interception against Jacksonville to seal the game, but he had a couple plays in yesterday's game that are just outstanding that set the tone of how physical we were going to play," Head Coach Nick Sirianni commented.

"The fourth play of the game, the way he comes down, I think the fourth play of the game really shows you who Nakobe Dean is. He identifies the play lightning fast and that's because of how much time he spends working on his game. He lights up the puller with that physical toughness play. You saw everything of what Nakobe is on that play. Bam, good football IQ. Boom, physical toughness. And, yeah, we'll miss him, that's for sure. Got a lot of faith in the guys in that room, but we'll miss him for sure."

Dean's injury occurred during a second-and-10 play in the second quarter when he quickly diagnosed a pass from quarterback Jordan Love to tight end Tucker Kraft. He maneuvered around right tackle Zach Tom's block attempt and tackled Kraft for a 3-yard loss.

Linebacker Nolan Smith was first to assist Dean after his fall but was waved off by Dean himself.

"It hurt my heart," said Smith, who shared living quarters with Dean at Georgia University. "I just immediately closed my eyes and prayed right then because, to a lot of people, it's a game. 'This is just football.' This is our livelihood. Me and him leave it out there on the field."

Oren Burks took over for Dean on defense while Zack Baun assumed responsibility for helmet communications with coaches.

In 2024's regular season across 15 games, Dean achieved career-high statistics: 128 tackles (nine for loss), three sacks, 19 QB hits and pressures, two fumble recoveries, one forced fumble, and an interception.

Sunday marked his first playoff start where he recorded six tackles before leaving due to injury.