PHILADELPHIA – Validation arrived for Eagles linebacker Zack Baun on Monday night around 10 p.m. when his coach, Nick Sirianni, gave him an unexpected phone call.
“You never know with Nick,” said Baun. “It could be a ‘What’s up, bro?’ or it could be like something urgent, but in that case, it was a congrats.”
It was a congratulations for making his second Pro Bowl. Not that Baun needed any validation along those lines. He has been receiving that all year long, based on how offenses are scheming for him. So, for anyone who thinks that maybe Baun isn’t having the same kind of year from his breakout season a year ago, you might want to rethink that.
“I think last year I had a lot of opportunities because teams didn’t really know who I was or what my game consisted of,” he said. “This year, I never thought teams would be scheming against me or trying to cover me up on certain plays. But that was the case and to get Pro Bowl in spite of that is really cool.”
Inside Zack Baun’s Numbers
Eagles’ All-Pro LB Zack Baun returned to team drills at practice on Aug. 18, 2025. | John McMullen/Eagles On SI
Here are the numbers from last year to this year, with two games remaining, provided the Eagles play their starters in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the Commanders.
Tackles: 151-117
Tackles for loss: 11-6
Sacks: 3.5-2.5
Forced fumbles: 5-1
Pass defensed: 4-7
Last season, he had eight games putting up double-digit tackles. This year, he has two such games.
“You never know if it’s because of you (that offenses are scheming him up), you’re just like, dang, I’m getting blocked on every single play,” he said. “I’m not having the splash run-throughs I had last year or the crazy tackles I had last year, but just want to stay consistent and understand I’m doing my job and don’t really care about the stats. I just want the team to play well.”
The biggest difference in the numbers between this season and last is passes defended. Baun has more in 2025.
“Coverage, I think, is a skill of mine, a strong point of mine,” he said. “I feel like I can cover up a lot of different lanes, and there’s no better feeling when the quarterback’s looking at a route with me, then he has to look somewhere else. You know it won’t show up on the stat sheet, but you know you definitely affected the play that time.”
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