PHILADELPHIA — It’s been four months since the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl, but for linebacker Nakobe Dean, the real battle began shortly after.
“I mean, life has been good,” Dean told me during Rodney McLeod Jr.’s 5th Annual Sneaker Ball at Philly Live! Casino & Hotel over the weekend.
“I’ve been mostly rehabbing, just trying to get my mind, body and soul right; starting on my body so for me, I just hit the ground running with rehab.”
That rehab process hasn’t been light work. Dean tore his left patellar tendon during the Eagles’ Wild Card playoff win over the Green Bay Packers this past season, a blow that ended his year prematurely and set him on a long recovery path.
“It’s been strenuous, man. Every day it’s been work but I love the progress and every bit of it,” Dean shared. “You see that everybody’s journey was different, you know? Some people take longer or some people recover faster. So everybody’s different so, I just try not to project somebody else’s injury process on my own.”
He learned early on not to compare rehab timelines—even if it’s tempting. When he injured his foot last year, the Georgia product realized no two recoveries are identical. And this one? He’s attacking it with full intent.
What’s made it easier for Dean is the mentorship that guided him when he entered the NFL. He proudly named a list of veterans who helped show him the ropes.
“Brandon Graham, Fletcher Cox… T.J. Edwards, Kyzir White, Hassan Reddick…” he listed without hesitation.
Graham, in particular, made an impression—and his presence will be missed in the locker room this season.
“It’s definitely gonna be different,” Dean said. “BG was a big part of the energy of the team and we’re definitely going to miss his energy and what he brought to the locker room and outside on the field.”
But while rehabbing and reflecting, Dean’s also been investing his time in the community. He’s kept his boots on the ground, hosting football camps in both Philadelphia and his home state of Mississippi, and planning a back-to-school giveaway before the academic year kicks off.
“I’m working on a lot of things,” he said. “I just did a football camp in Philly last week; I got another football camp in Mississippi next week; a back to school giveaway that will be happening before the beginning of the school year, so yeah, we got a couple things in the works.”
And while much of the chatter around that Eagles Super Bowl still centers on the players who didn’t visit the White House under President Donald Trump’s administration. Dean did not attend the team’s White House visit to celebrate their Super Bowl victory.
Several other Eagles players, including Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, and DeVonta Smith, also chose not to attend.
Dean wasn’t eager to reopen old debates. “I ain’t talking about that,” said Dean who laughed off many of his Eagles teammates decision not to attend the celebration at the White House.
“That’s old! We ain’t bringing that up.”
Still, Nakobe Dean remains very much a young face of this Eagles squad—with poise, purpose, and a little bit of style too.
When asked to name his top five most stylish players in the NFL, he could only settle on two.
“I got [Saquon] Barkley and DeVonta [Smith]… I got just two, I can’t even name five!”
On the field or in the community, Dean’s still defining his identity. And if the progress he’s made in rehab is any indication, the Eagles—and Philly—will be hearing a lot from No. 17 again soon.
