The Philadelphia Eagles once again have the most former Bulldogs on their team in the NFL this season. Unfortunately one of those former Georgia football stars, linebacker Nakobe Dean, will not be available to play for the first four weeks of the season as the Eagles have recently placed him on the reserve/physically unable to perform list.
Eagles place LB Nakobe Dean on reserve/PUP among their many moves. https://t.co/UOqAVhby0N
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 26, 2025
Georgia LB Nakobe Dean is out for four weeks
During the Eagles playoff win over the Green Bay Packers on Jan. 12, Dean tore his patellar tendon that kept him out for the rest of Phillaydelphia's Super Bowl run. This injury also kept him off the field for the entire offseason and into the Eagles fall training camp and preseason games.
Being placed on the reserve/physically unable to perform list means that he is automatically ruled out for the first four games of Philly's season. However, Dean sounds confident that he will be healthy and ready to play after these four weeks because he took to social media after this announcement from Philly and said "see y’all Week 5."
Dean is entering his fourth season in the NFL and is coming off what was an impressive third year with the Eagles. During the 2023 season, Dean racked up 128 tackles, three sacks, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries and an interception. All of these stats were much higher compared to his first two seasons, so it's clear how much his career was trending in the right direction before this injury occurred.
The hope now is that Dean will be ready to play after sitting out for the first four weeks this season. Even though the Eagles went on to win the Super Bowl without him, they could definitely use Dean on their defense as he has blossomed into one of the top linebackers in the NFL.