Zack Baun had the game of his life in his Philadelphia Eagles debut. Who is this guy?
Zack Baun, a little-known former Saints linebacker who signed with the Eagles in 2024, absolutely demolished the Packers in his first game with his new team.
The five most annoying words for people who love football but are not Philadelphia Eagles fans:
Howie Roseman did it again.
Roseman, the Eagles’ Executive Vice President and general manager, has been with the team in some form or fashion since 2000, when he was a front-office intern. He has developed a well-deserved reputation for finding steals in the draft, yes, but he’s been especially expert at finding hidden gems in free agency. Nick Foles, Haason Reddick, Javon Hargrave… the list goes on and on.
In the 2024 offseason, Roseman signed former New Orleans Saints linebacker Zack Baun to a one-year, fully-guaranteed, $3.5 million deal. The 2020 third-round pick out of Wisconsin was never more than a bit player with his first NFL team — he topped out in the 2023 season with 303 total defensive snaps, and that was his career high. But new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his staff saw something in Baun, so the deal was struck.
And in Philly’s 34-29 season-opening win over the Green Bay Packers last Friday in Brazil, Baun had himself a performance that would have translated in any country. Baun had 15 tackles, seven stops, two sacks, and three quarterback pressures. He also allowed one catch on three targets… for zero yards.
Baun was unquestionably the star of a star-studded defense, so where the heck did this guy come from, and how was he able to do all of this right away?
Versatility was key.
Baun was all over the place from a deployment standpoint in his first Eagles game. He played 27% of his snaps at the line of scrimmage in four different gaps, 33% as an outside linebacker, and 37% as an inside linebacker. He even had one snap as a red zone cornerback.
Baun had one of his sacks and two quarterback pressures from the line of scrimmage. He did so both as an overhang edge defender, and as a gap-shooting stand-up pressure generator inside. His sack of Packers quarterback Jordan Love came with 10:43 left in the first quarter, and it was an unblocked pressure perhaps predicated on the fact that Baun was skirting the designations between edge and outside linebacker. No. 53 wasn’t really on the line of scrimmage… and yet, he was.
Baun also ended the game with his sack of backup quarterback Malik Willis on the busted Hail Mary attempt as the clock ran out.
In coverage, Baun also skirted the positional edge to the defense’s benefit. His tackle of running back Emanuel Wilson with 1:10 left in the third quarter saw Baun starting off with an edge-rush, then dropping into coverage to be in the right place at the right time for the aforementioned zero-yard gain.
And Baun’s drop into coverage on rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell’s deflection of his Love pass to tight end Luke Musgrave with 5:29 left in the first half was certainly part of the story.
Can Baun keep this up? One reason he saw so much action in this game was Devin White’s ankle injury — the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star also signed a one-year deal with the Eagles this offseason. Fangio may want to try other guys in a rotational sense as the season progresses, but snap counts tend to favor the best players, and any other Eagles linebacker would find it challenging to match Baun’s effectiveness in his Eagles debut. After four NFL seasons of anonymity, Baun has certainly seemed to find his ideal home.
Came here via a link from Tanier. Good article! I liked the analysis of how Baun was used. How much was Baun and how much was Fangio's scheme? We'll likely find out as the season goes on.