NEW ORLEANS — Back where he spent his first four years in the NFL, nothing makes sense. The player who struck the NFC like a meteor this 2024 season has no clear and obvious explanation for his own carnage. Zack Baun turned a modest one-year, $3.5 million pact with the Philadelphia Eagles into one of the best seasons we’ve seen at inside linebacker position in recent memory. He’ll be too busy preparing for Super Bowl LIX to sashay along the red carpet with the other finalists at this week’s NFL’s annual awards ceremony.
Myles Garrett ($25M/year), T.J. Watt ($28M/year) and Patrick Surtain ($24M/year) are all quite rich and Trey Hendrickson just may ink a deal north of all the above.
Through four years with the New Orleans Saints, Baun only played eight, 17, 10 and 27 percent of the defensive snaps. He was the quintessential special-teamer. On the coverage units, Baun played 59, 79, 81 and 83 percent of the snaps.
He was mostly anonymous. A useful player who warranted a spot on the 53-man roster, but little else.
Yet, Vic Fangio saw something.
Plugged into the Eagles starting lineup, Baun has erupted for 177 tackles, two interceptions, six forced fumbles, 3.5 sacks and 13 TFLs through 19 total games. No way are the Eagles playing in the big game this Sunday vs. the Kansas City Chiefs without him.
So, on Tuesday, we lobbed a simple question Baun’s direction inside the Hilton New Orleans Riverside.
What the (bleep)? Where did this guy come from?
“I knew physically I had the capability to be a pretty good player,” says Baun. “But it just took me a while to get going mentally and transition from different positions on defense and try to get used to coverages, schemes, run fits, my eye progression, stuff like that. So physically I knew I had the tools. It was just getting in the right situation and being in the right head space to do it.”
The astonishing Rise of Baun in this Eagles defense should serve as hope for all teams wandering for a superstar on defense. In Buffalo, we heard both the general manager and head coach lament the reality that talents such as Chris Jones do not grow on trees. True, it’s extremely difficult for perennial contenders drafting at the end of Round 1, who’ve already paid top dollar to their quarterback to reel in an A+ star. But strategically sign the right player for the right defensive mind and championship magic is quite possible.
Solving this mystery is not easy. It’s best to start right there in free agency. Whereas the Saints never viewed Baun as anything more than a cog on special teams, the Eagles made him a priority. Granted, it’s smart to conduct himself as a statesman one month away from inking a contract that’ll change his life forever. But Baun repeatedly makes it clear there’s zero bad blood. He refuses to say a bad word about New Orleans. At no point does Baun come remotely close to blaming the Saints for failing to realize who he was as a linebacker.
Frankly because the former Wisconsin Badger has no clue himself.
He wasn’t sure if he was an on-the-ball or off-the-ball linebacker. Nothing felt natural. Four years passed by. He points the finger at the man in the mirror.
“I blame a lot of it on myself and my own development,” Baun says. “Getting in my own way. I had great coaches. It was a great scheme but I kind of blame myself.”
All Baun knew was that he needed a completely new environment.
As he racked up 1,293 snaps on special teams, it would’ve been easy for Baun to pigeonhole himself as a special teams guy. Which isn’t the worst existence. Pros can spend a decade in the NFL chasing down kicks and punts. When I ask Baun how he maintained belief in himself — in the guy who had 12.5 sacks his final collegiate season in Madison — he brings up a conversation he had with Eagles teammate Oren Burks.
Like him, Burks was a third-round pick.
Like him, Burks spent four years on special teams with the team that drafted him: the Green Bay Packers.
“You could go one of two ways,” Baun says. “You can bet on yourself and sign a one- or two-year deal and say ‘I’m going to continue and try to play linebacker.’ Or you can say ‘I’m going to be a special teamer.’ And we both bet on ourselves to play linebacker. It’s not losing faith in yourself and betting on yourself through it all.”
Waiting for his shot to sack quarterbacks in the Big Ten taught him patience, too.
“If you’re not where you want to be right away,” Baun continues, “don’t stop working, continue to work hard and just keep going for it.”
He always possessed explosive physical attributes. Gradually, the pace of NFL offenses slowed down in his mind. But much like Blake Cashman with the Minnesota Vikings, Baun also needed one of the sport’s finest defensive coaches to have a true vision for his game.
Cashman was identified as the green-dot psycho by Brian Flores. After NFL Hell with the New York Jets, he blossomed.
Baun was targeted by Fangio. The DC saw a versatile chess piece who’d find the ball in a scheme that relies heavily on play-to-play communication.
For Baun, everything didn’t truly click until the Week 5 bye. He clearly isn’t in the mood to reflect on his journey the week of the biggest game of his life. But a conversation with one former Badger teammate helped. Andrew Van Ginkel played under Fangio through a tumultuous ’23 season in Miami and told his friend that Fangio loves getting creative with his coverage looks. It’d be different than anything Baun ever experienced. Of course, Fangio’s own career was at a crossroads exactly one year ago. Dolphins players openly celebrated the coordinator’s exit — safety Jevon Holland posted a video of himself literally kicking rocks.
A tale old as time, it was fair to wonder if the 66-year-old Fangio could no longer connect with players a third his age.
On this topic, Baun is most opinionated. He calls the notion “very false” and says Philly’s youth is a strength — he’s actually one of the old heads at 28 years old. Both Fangio and linebackers coach Bobby King have allowed him to play free, play fast.
Still, it’s a balance. He has witnessed the stubborn, perfectionist side of Fangio.
“The wrath of Vic was never directed at me, so I’m lucky and blessed by that,” Baun says, “but I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it, I’ve seen it.”
Tough love was required to right this ship. And when Nakobe Dean tore his patellar tendon against the Green Bay Packers in the wild card, Baun needed to step up as a vocal leader. For the first time in his career, he’s wearing the green dot. He’s the brains in the middle of this D communicating all of Fangio’s calls and insists the transition’s been both “seamless” and “flawless.” Not an easy task when teams go up-tempo. It’d be no surprise if Andy Reid and the Chiefs tried speeding up to the line of scrimmage in an effort to short-circuit that headset communication between Fangio and Baun.
Baun believes he’s ready for this scenario. The Eagles have been speeding up their calls in practice.
New X’s and O’s have been a blessing, but what about Zack Baun himself? There’s got to be something special in his past that has finally bubbled to the surface. An origin story. Anything.
He’s got an eclectic background. Back in Brown Deer, Wisc., Baun was a star quarterback in high school who threw for 1,936 yards and 20 touchdowns, while rushing for another 1,837 yards with 39 scores. His first love was basketball and he still plays a ton. He placed in 100- and 200-meter sprints at the state track meet. And taking this all back even further — as a kid — Baun was a goalie in soccer, played tennis and even did ballet. Much like the Chiefs QB he’ll be matching wits with on Sunday, Baun is a product of playing just about every sport. All of it helps him play multiple positions in Fangio’s scheme.
“I line up on the edge sometimes,” Baun says. “Other times, I’m off the ball, I can do a bunch of different things in coverage and blitzes. So I think just being overall athletic really has really helped me do a lot of different things and I think it helps Vic scheme some stuff up, too.”
Not that he’s in a mood to discuss those days as a dancer. (Hey, we tried.)
Adds Baun: “My mom put out the dancing thing a couple years back and it hasn’t left me.”
There’s something deeper driving these Eagles. No team tried to completely re-imagine itself on defense quite like this team. When he signed, Baun admits he could “feel the heartbreak and the uncomfortableness” of an ugly 2023. Immediately, he could tell this was a team “on a mission to do something special.” Even then, the Eagles started 2-2 after a 33-16 thrashing by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the same team that put the nails in their ‘23 coffin.
“We didn’t really know who we were or what our identity was,” Baun says. “We talked about who we wanted to be and what we wanted to do, but the things we were doing on the field weren’t really adding up so we had some tough, good conversations in the bye week and the rest is history from there.”
The Eagles won 15 of their next 16 games.
No magic pixie dust was sprinkled on top of the playbook. Fangio didn’t change anything schematically.
Baun says it was simply a matter of getting all players “committing to the same cause.”
He’s usually the playmaker balling up a fist and punching the ball out.
One month apart, he made the same exact play against Washington. His forced fumble of wide receiver Dyami Brown revved the NFC title game into a blowout.
All of it has led the bald, goateed, tattooed linebacker back to New Orleans. For Baun, it’s impossible to script a better storybook finish than winning a Super Bowl in this stadium. Even certain smells are bringing him back to moments of time. He’s been bumping into athletic trainers and equipment managers from the past and, again, makes it clear he harbors no hard feelings.
“I love it here. My son was born here. They drafted me. I owe a lot to the city,” he says.
Maybe it didn’t show up on the field but Baun can now see how much he grew through his four years in this city. He points to longtime Saints linebacker Demario Davis— a one of a kind person — as a major factor in his development. Davis taught him how to watch film and be a pro. He lists off his linebacker coaches in college (Bobby April III), New Orleans (Mike Hodges) and Philadelphia (King) all as key factors. King taught him the art of “block destruction.” Nonstop, he raves about his Eagles teammates. And then there’s his wife who helped keep his spirits up through all the ups and downs. She’s holding it down at home with their son.
After winning the NFC title, a video of tiny Elian celebrating in the confetti went viral.
Having a baby just may be the No. 1 reason he’s here.
Says Baun: “It puts life into perspective and purpose and meaning that I didn't know I needed.”
He’s not looking back. He’s not looking forward. An eight-figure annual contract looms but first Baun returns to where his NFL career began. Once again, he’ll try to strip a fumble loose, jump a pass or decleat a ball-carrier to spark this defense. His ascent is mindboggling and a source of inspiration for all players who believe they’re something more than a player chasing down a punt returner.
You can’t help but wonder who else is currently buried on a depth chart dying to give a team 1,000 violent snaps at linebacker.
A touch of intuition from a coach and a whole lot of inner-belief and the stars can align.
Baun is living proof.
“There probably are some guys out there,” says Baun, “that I hope get a chance and don’t give up on themselves.”
Great article! On Wisconsin!