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Eagles linebacker Oren Burks finds himself in a key spot in his second straight Super Bowl

Burks was called into action for the 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII when Dre Greenlaw went down with an injury. This time Burks is filling in for Nakobe Dean.

Eagles linebacker Oren Burks took over for the injured Nakobe Dean during the playoff victory against Green Bay.
Eagles linebacker Oren Burks took over for the injured Nakobe Dean during the playoff victory against Green Bay. Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

The next-man-up mentality is part of the ethos of the sport. For Oren Burks, it is more than just part of football, it is pretty much his entire seven-year NFL career.

Burks has never been a full-time starter. He’s a special teams ace, a leader in the locker room, and a hole filler whose number only gets called when someone else goes down.

From special teamer to starting in the Super Bowl, it’s been an interesting first season with the Eagles for the 29-year-old linebacker, but it’s not an entirely new experience.

Rewind to last February, when Burks was the third linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers. He played 34% of the defensive snaps during the regular season, by far the most in his career. He played 20 snaps in San Francisco’s first playoff game and 16 in a conference championship victory over the Detroit Lions. He was going to have a similar role in the Super Bowl, but then Dre Greenlaw suffered a freak Achilles injury running onto the field in the second quarter.

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Burks was next in line. He played 71 snaps, his second-highest total in an NFL game, and he struggled. The Kansas City Chiefs targeted Burks nine times in coverage and completed t all nine passes, including one for a touchdown. It was one of Burks’ worst games by Pro Football Focus grading in his career as the Chiefs won, 25-22, in overtime.

One year later, Burks is in a similar spot, though it’s far from the same. Nakobe Dean’s season-ending injury occurred during the wild-card win over Green Bay and Burks has been starting ever since. His play has gotten better, too. Burks had one of the best games of his career during the Eagles’ 55-23 NFC championship victory over Washington. He recorded nine tackles, including a sack and a forced fumble.

This from a guy who missed so much of training camp with a knee injury that his roster spot wasn’t a guarantee. The Eagles brought him in on a one-year deal to provide some depth at linebacker, but he barely got on the field in camp. He was initially cut before being named to the practice squad and then receiving a promotion to the 53-man roster.

“I had one or two practices and then the last preseason game and that was my resumé,” Burks said. “I really just believed in this locker room and wanted to be here and wanted to prove that I should be here.

“That’s been my whole career, just trying to find a way to add value. And that’s whether it’s on [special] teams, whether it’s on defense, being a great locker room guy, being a great leader, just embracing that.”

Burks, of course, isn’t happy how his opportunity happened. Burks started in Week 17 when Dean had an abdominal injury and then again in Week 18 when the Eagles rested their starters. But Burks expected to be back on the bench as Dean returned for the playoffs.

The Eagles have a deep and talented roster, but linebacker was a big question mark entering the 2024 season. Dean had yet to excel, Zack Baun was an unknown, Burks was a special teams ace, Devin White looked good at times in camp but didn’t earn a job, and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. was a fifth-round draft pick.

Linebacker, however, has turned into a strength. Dean emerged as a key player after missing most of 2023 with an injury, and Baun, initially signed as a potential rotational edge rusher, turned into an All-Pro off-ball linebacker. Vic Fangio has gotten a lot out of the group, and he’s getting a lot out of Burks now, too. But even before Burks’ number was called as a starter, he started the playoffs with a pop, forcing a fumble on the opening kickoff of the wild-card game against the Packers.

“The season has a lot of ebbs and flows, but this is the big one that you’ve been preparing for your whole life,” Burks said.

Dean is still part of all this, Burks said. He’s out in California rehabbing after surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon in his knee, but his smiling face was seen on FaceTime after the game Sunday, and Burks said he was looking forward to seeing Dean in New Orleans.

“He’s just as much a part of that win as any of us,” Burks said.

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As for how he’s able to help some of the guys who weren’t in the locker room for a Super Bowl vs. the Chiefs, Burks said he made sure to let Baun know how crazy things would be once they left Philadelphia and arrived in New Orleans. On the field, Burks knows how good of a route-runner Travis Kelce is and how difficult the Chiefs will make things on the Eagles defense.

And that Mahomes guy?

“Don’t give him too much time at the end,” Burks said. “That’s one of the big things, a common theme. He’s a hell of a quarterback. He comes through in those clutch moments.”