Other NFL Teams Were Concerned About Nakobe Dean's Health
PHILADELPHIA - Late whispers of injuries and potential surgery took a bite out of Nakobe Dean's draft stock and all of a sudden one of the best defensive players in college football last season, who showed up in Las Vegas Thursday expecting to be a first-round pick like five of his Georgia teammates, was in danger of sliding into Day 3 of the draft.
That's when Howie Roseman struck, nabbing the Butkus Award winner as the nation's best linebacker, at No. 83 overall.
It was a bit of makeup to the team's fans who were incensed that the organization passed on Dean at No. 51, instead defaulting to organizational philosophy and a Jeff Stoutland favorite in Cam Jurgens, the heir apparent to All-Pro center Jason Kelce.
When the dust cleared on Day 2, the Eagles had them both and Nick Sirianni, who typically doesn't need any help in the energy department, was downright giddy.
Roseman didn't offer any Jerry Jones-level proof but claimed Jurgens and Dean were the top two players on his board before he defaulted to the more important positional building block in Philadelphia's mind at 51.
"When we were on the clock in the second round, these guys will tell you, we had two players – it was Cam and it was Nakobe Dean," he said. "And unfortunately for our fans at the time, you know, I'm always going to go [offensive line], [defensive line]. That's how we roll. That's how we build this thing."
Sirianni joked that his coordinators were even battling a bit.
"You see the excitement in our coaches. [Eagles offensive coordinator] Shane [Steichen] was texting me, "Hey, Cam is still on the board." [Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan] Gannon is texting me, "Nakobe is still on the board," the head coach smiled. "And I am like, "Let Howie work, I got it."
Then the Merry-Go-Round came back around for the Eagles and Dean was still there.
His curious fall had to do with a pectoral injury with the narrative being that some doctors recommended surgery and Dean went a different way.
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University of Georgia
Where the truth lies remains to be seen but Dean claimed that part of the story was never true.
“That was the nerve-wracking part about it, the whole thing,” Dean said via Zoom from Las Vegas early Saturday morning Philadelphia time. “You know, listening to things that are not true and it's costing me a lot of money. And just seeing my mama’s face, and for me falling and to hear things like that, that was just the (worst) thing.”
The Eagles backed up Dean's explanation and claim the linebacker will be on the field next weekend for a minicamp.
“We know that people had some concerns," Howie Roseman admitted, "but Nakobe Dean is going to be on the field this week when we have rookie minicamp. He has a pec injury that does not require surgery. He's going to be on the field this weekend. We don't anticipate missed time now. He'll come in here and take a physical, and we'll double-check all those things.”
Dean agreed with Roseman's assessment but that double-check comment shouldn't be dismissed until the all-clear is sounded even if Dean himself is optimistic.
“I know minicamp is next week and I expect to be a full participant for that. I’m ready to go,” he said.
Others obviously don't agree and pec surgery would likely require a six-month rehabilitation period in the best-case scenario, wiping out much of Dean's rookie season.
"There’s a reason he’s dropping," new Giants GM Joe Schoen told New York reporters. "We can’t talk much about that.”
Dean called the concerns mind-boggling.
“That was the thing that was so surprising,” he said. “I went to doctors, got second opinions and everything, and nobody, nobody, said I should have surgery. Nobody had told me I had to have surgery.
"So for that to come up and for teams to be saying that and waiting until the day of the draft to say something like that, that was kind of crazy to me.”
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Nakobe Dean Says He is Injury-Free, Will Take Field for ...
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
