Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean will be out for the remainder of the playoffs after he exited Sunday’s wild-card round win over the Green Bay Packers with a knee injury, head coach Nick Sirianni said Monday.
NFL Network reported that Dean tore his patellar tendon in his knee.
“He’s going to be out and we sure will miss him,” Sirianni said. “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 has a couple plays in yesterday’s game that are just outstanding that set the tone for how physical we’re going to play.”
Before leaving the game against the Packers in the first half, Dean had six tackles, including two for a loss.
Special teams ace Oren Burks, who forced a fumble on the opening kickoff, replaced Dean on Philadelphia’s defense after the former University of Georgia product left the game. Burks finished the game with five tackles to go along with his forced fumble.
“Ima be beack better than ever,” Dean wrote on on his Instagram story on Monday. “God got me. But for [right now], job not finished! We got more business to handle #GoBirds.”
Dean had a breakout season with the Eagles in year three after he was selected in the third round in the 2022 NFL draft out of Georgia.
Dean ranked second on the team in tackles with 128, three sacks and one interception. All of the numbers were career highs for Dean.
As a rookie during Philadelphia’s run to the Super Bowl, Dean played mostly special teams. Last season, injuries derailed his season.
But Dean, who won the Butkus Award in 2021 at Georgia, which goes to the best linebacker in the nation, played a career-high 858 snaps on defense for the Birds this season. He never played more than 182 defensive snaps in his previous two seasons.
Dean also wore the “green dot” for the Eagles’ defense and called plays, so that responsibility will likely fall on All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun. Baun took over the “green dot” after Dean exited the game.
Dean’s teammates, including edge rusher Nolan Smith, a teammate at Georgia, were devastated by his injury.
“It hurt. It hurt my heart,” Smith told CBS Sports. “As soon as I walked in here, seeing him in here, I prayed. Then I was the first one there. I tried to help him up. He said ‘No.’ I immediately closed my eyes and prayed right there.