Eagles' Zack Baun Snubbed in Top-10 Ranking

It's "Listicle'' season, a fun time if you are the NFL's best team.

Coming off a dominant Super Bowl victory, multiple players on the Philadelphia Eagles have found their names ranked in an assortment of "lists'' of the top 10 of their respective positions.

For instqnce ... Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, Jordan Mailata, and other stars are just a few of the names who have been given recognition on Jeremy Fowler's ESPN offseason series ranking the best players at each position.

So, where is Eagles linebacker Zack Baun on the list?

Oops.

Baun signed a three-year extension with the team after being named a First-Team All-Pro linebacker in his initial season with the Eagles. Once signed as a potential special-teams player, Baun was thrust into the starting role and became one of the best players around seemingly overnight.

Was that enough to make him the best linebacker in the game?

Not quite.

ESPN's rankings had Baun as the third best off-ball linebacker behind Roquan Smith, and Fred Warner.

"Finally came into his own," an NFC executive said of Baun to Jeremy Fowler. "He's such a versatile defender that can affect the game in multiple ways that his strength was potentially hindering him from reaching his ceiling early on in his career. Instead [in 2024], he really mastered stacked ILB and was able to build up that foundation to take advantage of his athletic ability and playmaking."

Here's the Philly-centric view of all of this ... and why being No. 3 feels like a "snub'': Neither Warner or Smith were as important or impactful to their teams at the level Baun was for the Eagles. Philadelphia has had a tortured history with linebackers over the last decade, but that all changed with the quick maturation into the job by Baun.

There is no real reason why he finished third in this rating other than the fact it was really only his first year playing the position.

Either way, if Baun can build off his career year in 2024, the sky is the limit for his career. ... And for the Eagles, on the field and in the rankings.