The Eagles got middle linebacker Nakobe Dean back off the IR in Week 6 but he wasn’t a starter.
Instead, the Eagles started Nicholas Morrow and Zach Cunningham and went with a three-man rotation for the Jets game.
After the 20-14 loss, Dean said the Eagles put him on a pitch count as he returned from a foot injury that forced him to miss four games on IR.
But is this rotation going to continue even after Dean is 100 percent?
“I really think it’s by week and by game and what the package and the plan is that what we want to do,” Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “But we feel confident in any of those guys going out there and executing for us.”
The Eagles began the season with Dean and Cunningham as their starters and with Morrow on the practice squad. But after Dean’s injury, Morrow became the starting middle linebacker and the combination of Morrow and Cunningham played well in the four games without Dean.
Even Dean on Sunday night admitted that Morrow and Dean earned their snaps.
Here’s how it shook out on Sunday:
Cunningham: 49 snaps (75%)
Morrow: 36 snaps (55%)
Dean: 32 snaps (49%)
But rotating at the linebacker position can put some extra stress on the on-field communication during games. Desai admitted as much on Tuesday.
“It can. That’s something that we prepare for,” Desai said. “We prepare for throughout the week, and we put guys in those situations and myself in those situations as the primary communicator to them on game day, but we prepare for all those situations so we have a good plan going into it.”
Desai praised linebackers coach D.J. Eliot for managing the rotation and the communication from the sideline during games and also praised the equipment staff for sorting out the green dot helmets (the helmets with the one-way radio transmitter) and having them ready to go.
A reminder: This added stress with the linebacker rotation is on top of the ever-flowing rotation on the defensive line and on top of the rotation in the secondary thanks to a parade of injuries in 2023. There have been a ton of moving parts for Desai’s defense this season.
Because of all that, it seems like the Eagles have to feel like they’re getting enough value out of rotating at linebacker or they probably wouldn’t do it.
They at least saw the value in it against the Jets.
“I think it was a good situation for us to keep everyone fresh and that’s a big thing for us,” Desai said. “We want to stay fresh through the fourth quarter in every game and the whole season, and we have some good players at that position who are playing really good football for us, so might as well get everybody some shots on goal.”
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