Eagles' Friends and Teammates Highlight NFL's Counterintuitive Culture

Professional football isn’t your average profession.

The idea of helping train or mentor a potential replacement is counterintuitive, yet all 32 NFL teams often demand it each season.

That scenario was turned up in Philadelphia over draft weekend when the Eagles selected Georgia middle linebacking prospect Smael Mondon at No. 161 overall, a former teammate and close friend of the Eagles’ current Mike linebacker, Nakobe Dean, with the Bulldogs.

Dean, 24, is entering the final season of his rookie deal after a superlative breakout season that ended in the wild card round of the playoffs against Green Bay with a torn patellar tendon in his knee.

From a pure football perspective, it’s just smart business for the Eagles to set up for life without Dean after the 2025 campaign for several reasons.

The 2021 Butkus Award winner has failed to finish the past two seasons healthy, dealing with serious lower-body injuries that required surgery: a Lisfranc issue in 2023, and now a knee issue.

More so, if the injury worm turns for Dean and he plays the 2025 season at a similar level or even better than 2024, he might price himself out of the Philadelphia salary-cap picture which is already allocating significant assets to Zack Baun at ILB and needs to prepare for the upcoming extensions for other star defenders starting with superstar defensive tackle Jalen Carter after the 2025 campaign.

In-house, the Eagles now have Jeremiah Trotter Jr. in the second year of his rookie deal and now Mondon, 22, and first-round pick Jihaad Campbell, who has both off-ball and edge-rushing capabilities, for four full years at a cost-effective price.

However, Mondon and Dean are so close that the latter was the first of the seven other ex-Georgia defenders on the Eagles roster that Mondon contacted when he was drafted.

“Even when I got drafted, Nakobe was the first person I called,” Mondon told reporters at the start of Eagles rookie camp on Friday. “So talking to Nakobe, talking to Nolan [Smith], talking to JC [Jalen Carter], talking to all of them, they’re just telling me how everything is. 

“They make me feel comfortable.”

Because Dean and Mondon play the same position and Nakobe was a superstar at the college level when Mondon was a freshman, the rookie has already regarded Dean as sort of a big brother. 

“Even in general, before I got here, I used to call Nakobe a lot during the draft process, or even when I was still playing at Georgia,” Mondon told Eagles On SI. “He’d give me tips here and there. He’s been like a real big help. 

“Nakobe’s like my big brother. I came into Georgia as a freshman, and to see Nakobe win the Butkus, I’ve been looking up to him for many years now. So to get here and have him still lead me, it’s been good, it’s been a blessing.”

The Eagles are blessed that the big brother is a natural leader and exceptional teammate who will do everything he can to help, even if it's contradictory to survival in the workplace.