‘Historian’ Bobby King Reveals Trait Modern LBs Must Have

PHILADELPHIA - Those of us who’ve been around the block a time or two quickly got a nostalgic feeling when meeting the Eagles’ new inside linebackers coach Bobby King.

In fact, those enrolled in the “old school” might elect King as the class president.

The gruff 15-year assistant coach arrives in Philadelphia through a relationship he had with Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni dating back to when the two were together on Mike McCoy’s staff in San Diego from 2014 to 2016.

The connection between Sirianni and King was the love of the game they’ve both chosen as a career along with the reverence for its history.

“You ask him anything and he's always studying the game,” King said of his new boss. “He appreciates the past. I think that's a lost art with people my age. I'm getting up there too. But guys, my age don't even know the history. It's embarrassing.”

Not Sirianni.

“He appreciates the history of the game, guys that laid the groundwork for us,” King said.

For King, the names he reveres are Butkus, Lambert, and Lewis, Hall of Famers from different eras who had one obvious trait that was a commonality – toughness.

Dick Butkus, an eight-time All-Pro and two-time Defensive Player of the Year with the Chicago Bears from the mid-1960s through the mid-1970s in King’s No. 1 but the coach has evolved enough to understand that you can’t go searching for a player like that in 2024.

“He'd be fined a lot of money,” King laughed when asked for the closest current comparison to Butkus. “I don't know if there's anybody like that right now in the league."

Modern linebacking demands a different style.

"Just just the way the offense is attacking you. It's more spread out,” King said. “You gotta be able to run. To be a three-down guy, you gotta to be able to run and blitz and cover and still be able to whoop somebody's butt also."

And that last part remains the one that binds greatness in the old school to the new way of doing things.

“You gotta be tough," King said.

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