The Philadelphia Eagles have lost Nakobe Dean to free agency. The young linebacker has signed a three-year deal with the Raiders, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Dean will receive $36M over that span, with $20M being guaranteed. That is a lot of guaranteed money for a player that has had his fair share of injury woes, but there is no doubting his prowess when healthy. A Super Bowl champion with 226 tackles and 7.5 sacks to his name, the Georgia product excelled during his stint with the Philadelphia Eagles.
This past offseason, the team opted to draft Jihaad Campbell, who played solidly enough while Dean recovered from an injury sustained in the 2024 playoffs, but when the veteran returned, the gap in production was obvious. Campbell could well get there one day, but Dean separated himself as an entrenched starter in his contract season, and was always destined to receive a good payday.
It's a disappointing outcome for the Eagles, but when you have an embarassment of riches, it's always going to be difficult to retain every player. Campbell gives the Eagles another young star in the making next to Zack Baun, and the team was able to get one last exceptional run of form from Dean as the team tried to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
If he can stay healthy, he'll go on to have a stunning career, and will always be looked back on as another brilliant draft day decision from Eagles GM Howie Roseman, no matter how tough his goodbye was.
