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‘I know the type of player I can be:’ Nakobe Dean counting down days till 2024 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Nakobe Dean’s message: Give up on him at your own risk.
“I know who I am,” Dean said. “I know who I am, I ain’t got it wrong. I know who I am. I’m confident in my game. I know the type of player I can be. I know the type of person I can be for this city.”
After playing just 34 defensive snaps as a rookie in 2022, Dean got his chance to be a starting linebacker this fall – he was the Eagles’ youngest defensive opening-day starter since corner Brandon Boykin in 2012 – but he suffered a right foot injury in the opener in Foxboro and missed four games.
He came back in Week 6 for the Jets but didn’t feel 100 percent until the Cowboys game a few weeks later. And that’s when he suffered the Lysfranc injury in his left foot that ended his season.
There was so much hype around Dean coming out of Georgia and his first two NFL seasons certainly haven’t lived up to the hype.
But he just turned 23, he’s only played a handful of healthy snaps in his career, and both the Eagles and Dean remain optimistic he’ll become a key part of a rebuilt 2024 defense.
“You’re going to get criticism,” Dean said. “You’re going to get haters. You’re going to get motivators. But if I live for their compliments, I’m going to die for their criticism. So I’m not listening. I don’t listen to the good or the bad. I take everything with a grain of salt.
“Everybody will always have something to say. No matter if you’re the best linebacker in the league or the worst linebacker, they’re always going to have something negative to say.”
Dean and Ben VanSumeren, an undrafted rookie this past season, are the Eagles’ only off-ball linebackers under contract in 2024. Dean has played 216 career snaps and VanSumeren 50.
Howie Roseman knows there’s a lot of work to do to give new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio the personnel he needs to have a fighting…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/know-type-player-nakobe-dean-150955448.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-01-27 15:09:55
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