The Philadelphia Eagles have made plenty of moves this offseason to try and mitigate some of the losses of key pieces to their Super Bowl roster last year. Azeez Ojulari, Josh Uche, and Adoree Jackson were brought in to help with the depth of the top overall defense last season.
Not every pending free agent left Philadelphia, though.
The first move the Eagles made this offseason was to extend All-Pro linebacker Zach Baun to a three-year deal worth $51 million. Coming off a season where he was a finalist for the Defensive Player of the Year award, the contract was considered a no-brainer.
And ESPN's Seth Walder was tasked with grading the overall contract. The analyst gave the deal an 'A' with Philly's top offseason goal secured on a long-term and fair contract.
"The Eagles signing Baun to a one-year, $1.6 million deal, converting him to off-ball linebacker and then getting a near-Defensive Player of the Year performance is one of the best transactions and development coaching jobs you'll see in the NFL," Walder said. "Now it's time for the Eagles to pay market rate (or in this case, perhaps less) for Baun. And he's worth it. Despite only one interception, Baun allowed negative-26 EPA as the nearest defender in 2024, the best mark for a linebacker by a mile per NFL Next Gen Stats (next best was negative-11).
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"So yes, heckuva year. The Eagles, who ranked second in EPA per play on defense this season, wanting to bring him back makes all the sense in the world."
Baun recorded over 150 tackles and five forced fumbles on the season while helping transform Philadelphia's defense into one of the most feared in the game. While it's always difficult to project how a player can perform after a big contract, the Eagles believe Baun is worth the gamble.
And it's hard to argue against that thought process after 2024.
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This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 6:22 PM.