Nakobe Dean suffers season-ending knee injury in Eagles’ wild-card win vs. Packers

As the Eagles move on to the divisional round, Nakobe Dean is out for the rest of the postseason.

The 24-year-old inside linebacker tore his patellar tendon in his knee in the Eagles’ wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, a league source confirmed to The Inquirer. The NFL Network first reported the news. Not only will the injury knock him out for the remaining playoff run, but also his recovery could reportedly linger into the beginning of the 2025 season.

Dean went down late in the second quarter after tackling Packers tight end Tucker Kraft on a screen pass. He was helped off the field with the assistance of trainers and required a cart to take him indoors after a visit to the medical tent. The 2022 third-rounder out of Georgia was spotted postgame using a crutch and wearing a brace on his left leg. After the victory, Eagles outside linebacker Nolan Smith described the emotions he experienced while watching his former Georgia teammate suffer a serious injury.

“It hurt my heart,” Smith said. “As soon as I walked in here, seeing him in here, I prayed and then I was the first one there, and he told me. I tried to help him up and I just immediately closed my eyes and prayed right there, just ‘cause to a lot of people, man, it’s a game. This is a game to them. This is, ‘Oh, it’s just football. It’s just football.’ Man, it’s our livelihood.”

In his first year as a full-time starter, Dean made an impact in the middle of the Eagles defense. He had been one of Vic Fangio’s best players against the run, finishing the season with a league-high 41 “stops,” according to Pro Football Focus. The service defines the metric as a tackle that constitutes a failure for the opposing offense.

Dean earned the starting inside linebacker role out of training camp following an injury-riddled start to his NFL career. After serving in a reserve role in 2022, his rookie year, Dean was initially named the starter for the 2023 season. However, Dean suffered a right foot injury in the season opener and was placed on injured reserve. He returned to action in Weeks 6-9, but he sustained a Lisfranc left foot sprain in Week 9 against the Dallas Cowboys that caused him to miss the rest of the season.

In his third year, Dean locked down the starting role and remained mostly healthy throughout the regular season, missing just one game due to an abdominal injury in Week 17 against the Cowboys. He finished the year with 128 tackles (No. 2 on the team), nine tackles for a loss (No. 3), one interception, two fumble recoveries, four pass breakups, three sacks, and six quarterback hits in 15 games. Dean added six tackles, including two for losses, in the wild-card win.

When Dean came out of Sunday’s game, 29-year-old inside linebacker Oren Burks took his place alongside Zack Baun. Burks, whom the Eagles signed to a one-year deal in the offseason, had an inconsistent performance throughout his 36 defensive snaps. Despite posting five tackles, he was also credited with three missed tackles, per PFF, which tied for the second-most on the team.