Who Should I Start? Nakobe Dean or Drake Jackson

Monday, January 13, 12:03 PM

Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nakobe Dean (knee) suffered a torn patellar tendon in his knee late in the wild-card win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday and will miss the rest of the playoffs. It's a tough blow for the Eagles and Deal, who was at the tail end of a breakout season. He now has a long road to recovery and will likely miss the start of the 2025 regular season this fall. The Eagles were bracing for a serious injury after Dean had to be carted off the field in Philadelphia on Sunday. He underwent an MRI exam on Monday morning to confirm the serious injury. The former third-rounder in 2022 out of Georgia emerged as a starter in 2024 in his third year in the league and had an impressive 128 tackles (80 solo), a career-high three sacks, nine tackles for loss, six QB hits, one interception, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries in 15 regular-season starts. It's a notable loss for Philly's D the rest of the way.

Monday, July 29, 5:01 PM

San Francisco 49ers defensive end Drake Jackson (knee) will miss all of training camp as he recovers from patellar-tendon surgery that ended his season after just eight games in 2023. "We've got to see how rehab continues to go, but definitely not any time in camp," head coach Kyle Shanahan said. "Anytime you do that type of surgery that he had. those are big surgeries. They're tough to come back from. You never know how they're going to react. We always know it's a possibility to take a long time, and it's taking a long time." The second-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft has posted six sacks through his first 23 NFL games. Recently signed defensive end Leonard Floyd is expected to start opposite Nick Bosa to begin the 2024 campaign.