3 Eagles Making It Easy for Philly to Say Goodbye in 2025

2. Oren Burks, linebacker

The linebacker position was a huge discussion point in the 2024 offseason for the Philadelphia Eagles, and understandably so. Obviously, there was a lot of change happening to the Philly defense after the 2022 season, starting with Jonathan Gannon leaving to go coach the Arizona Cardinals.

Along with losing Gannon and needing a new coordinator, the Eagles had to replace their two starting inside linebackers TJ Edwards and Kyzir White. The loss of those two players ended up being a much bigger deal than anyone seemed to make it in the 2023 offseason, and the personnel issues the Eagles dealt with at the off-ball linebacker positions plagued that defense all season long.

Enter Vic Fangio, whose defense has always been extremely favorable to the linebacker position. Fangio knows how to find guys to be productive in his scheme and the Eagles brought in some fresh blood in 2024 free agency. They took a couple of shots on guys who hadn't even been full-time starters at their previous stops, but guys with plenty of talent and athleticism.

Zack Baun of the Saints and Oren Burks of the 49ers came in to compete with Nakobe Dean and others for starting jobs in Philly, and the Eagles found an absolute gem in 2024 free agency with Zack Baun. Baun has been the team's leading tackler this year and Dean has been able to stay healthy and productive alongside him.

Oren Burks has been limited in his overall role and with Philly finding a long-term piece potentially in Baun, there's no reason to bring Burks back into the fold in 2025 unless they feel like his special teams contributions are non-negotiable. And to his credit, he has played 77 percent of the special teams snaps for Philly in 2024, but as far as the defense is concerned, they won't be needing to beg Burks to come back, by any means.