Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (17) reacts after linebacker Jihaad Campbell is penalized for pass interference against the Green Bay Packers on Monday, November 10, 2025, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. The Eagles won the game, 10-7. Tork Mason/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Eagles Linebacker Flexes Leadership Muscle: No Pointing Fingers

Originally posted on Philadelphia Eagles on SI
By Ed Kracz | Last updated Dec 2, 2025 11:09 AM ET

Nakobe Dean had already endured a couple waves of reporters at his locker in the aftermath of the Eagles’ 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears, when a few stragglers who came along to see if he could answer a few more questions.

The linebacker was already dressed and about to head into the chill of a Black Friday evening and spend the rest of his holiday weekend recharging. It was a brutal 24-15 loss to the Chicago Bears, so the linebacker could have easily waved off the stragglers. He didn’t.

“Sure, I got time,” he said graciously, knowing that he would be covering the same ground from the earlier wave of tough questions about just how bad the defense was.

This is what leadership looks like, and Dean is always ready to provide it, except in 2023, when the Eagles were losing six of their final seven games. Dean was rehabbing a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot that limited him to just five games played.

Anbody Pinting Fingers Has To Get Through Nakobe Dean

Anybody who wants to point fingers after losing two games in a row and, for now, the top seed in the NFC playoffs, will have to go through Dean. He explained how he will prevent that from happening.

“Stop it when you see it right away,” he said. “Somebody thinking they can come to you and confide in you and say, ‘Man, we’ve been on the field a lot.’ No. We get paid to do this. We get paid to play defense. We get paid to stop offenses, so stop it right then and there.”

Dean had 12 tackles against the Bears, one away from his career-high set two years ago in an October game against the Commanders, a week before he suffered his Lisfranc injury. Despite the 12 tackles, Dean will be the first one to point out his mistakes to his teammates, which is another form of his leadership.

“That always helps when you’re the first to point out, ‘I need to do this better, I need to get off those blocks,’" he said. “Maybe when you point out, yeah, I could be better, things like that, looking internally.

“Individually, I’m gonna use it to get better in all aspects of my game. I’ll use it as a leader and tell the guys what we need to do better. There’s no pointing fingers; the defense isn’t going to blame the offense and vice versa. It’s everybody coming together and being real with each other, having real talks about what we need to do better.”

This article first appeared on Philadelphia Eagles on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: